Mission Accomplished
by wolf08
Summary: Our beloved Squad 7 is sick of D-Rank missions. To occupy themselves, Sasuke and Naruto debate about the truth behind Sakura's pink locks. Surprisingly, their curiousity lures them into a crazy, action-packed adventure! sasusaku, COMPLETE epilogue
1. The New Mission

**Declaimer: **The characters used in this story belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter 1: The New Mission**

A true ninja must conceal his (or her for that matter) presence carefully from the target's wandering eyes. If spotted, the entire outcome of the mission is in jeopardy. When the time is at last right, a ninja must strike swiftly and soundlessly so that if the enemy has comrades hidden from view, you are less likely to get ambushed.

Some ninjas choose not to follow these rules.

Others forget them.

"HRAGGHHHHH!" A battle cry rang through the forest. The ninja who had let out the cry dove forwards, his cerulean eyes glistening dangerously through the darkness. He gritted his teeth as he extended his arms; preparing to seize the enemy with his bare hands.

Not the best way to approach a rabbit.

It bounded off leaving the ninja sprawled on the forest floor with his arms still outstretched. His hair was matted and he had torn his sleeve in the process of diving out of the bushes. While skidding on the ground, his weapons pouch had snapped open, pouring out its contents.

Meet Naruto Uzumaki; The Number One Knuckle-Headed Ninja in all of Konoha. Naruto, the determined and feisty ninja, scored the lowest out of his whole class on the graduation test. He had spiky, blonde hair and his trade-mark orange track-suit. Across his forehead, he proudly bore his ninja forehead-protector with the symbol of his country engraved in the center.

Naruto lifted his head just in time to see two sets of feet land before him. "You idiot," said the owner of the feet on the right. Naruto slowly looked up. White shorts, navy blue shirt, raven locks, onyx eyes, a devious smirk… This could only mean one thing. It was Sasuke; the Uchiha heir and prodigy who made all the girls go bonkers. Sasuke Uchiha, on the contrary to Naruto, had the top score in his whole ninja class. Despite his tragic family history, Naruto envied Sasuke. I don't mean that Naruto wanted to _be _like Sasuke- I mean that Naruto wanted to beat him. In _everything_. This dangerously intense rivalry brings us to the third member of the team: their sweet, little cherry-blossom.

Now meet Sakura Haruno, the peace-keeper and Sasuke-stalker. She's incredibly brainy- the smartest in her class, in fact. But overall, her team-mates always left her in the dust- trailing behind- striving to keep up with Sasuke and even struggling to keep up with Naruto. She wore a red dress with slits on both sides and black leggings. Her eyes were shining emeralds and she had unusual pink hair. She was fairly shy while in the presence of an adult or stranger, short-tempered with annoying people like Naruto and very giddy whenever Sasuke was near. Although it had taken a lot of work, she had somehow managed to gain both of her team-mates respect.

"You were supposed to lure the rabbit over to Sasuke, not dive out and scare it! We'll be stuck out here until midnight because of you!" Sakura lectured.

"You'd better not keep me out here, because I have extra-circular training to do in the morning," Sasuke growled, cracking his knuckles.

"Hey! I'm not doing anything to keep you from leaving! How about you go home and leave me and Sakura be?" Naruto retorted, smoke steaming from his ears. Sasuke frowned. Although he acted like the others were so far below him, Sasuke considered teamwork a top priority.

Sakura stood between them, facing Naruto. "Don't you dare use that tone with Sasuke!"

"Aw, why do you always take his side, Sakura?" Naruto moaned.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Just drop it Naruto."

"Hey! You're the one who started it!"

"Lay off Naruto!"

"But he started it!"

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"Maybe I will!"

"Are you three trying to wake up all of Konoha at this ungodly hour?" said a new voice. "And did you finally catch the bunny?" In the middle of a cloud of smoke, Kakashi appeared. Kakashi Hatake was the team leader and teacher with slanted grey hair, a mask covering half of his face and a Jonin vest.

"Naruto blew it," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"I did not! I was just coming up with a plan of my own! Believe it!"

"Settle down you two. I didn't ask for you to point fingers. I asked for the results. So did you catch it or not?" Kakashi asked.

"No we didn't, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura answered guiltily.

"Alright then! _Hop _to it! Ha ha! Do you get it? Huh? _Hop _to it! You know, rabbits hop so-" but Kakashi was interrupted by three groans. "Ok, ok, come back to me when you're done. I'll be waiting here." Kakashi sat down and crossed his legs, leaning his back against the tree behind him. He reached into his weapons holster and pulled out and orange book entitled, "Make-Out Paradise".

"He is so disgusting!" Sakura huffed just before she and her two team-mates sprang off to find another rabbit.

Kakashi giggled, either because he knew that with Naruto around, the mission was a guaranteed failure, or because of the material in his book.

Naruto had successfully scared away three more rabbits. But luckily, soon after, he had fallen asleep- giving Sasuke and Sakura an opportunity to finally capture a rabbit properly.

They made their way back towards Naruto, Sasuke holding the rabbit by the ears. In turn, it was thrashing around and squeaking, trying to free itself from his firm grip. "Shut up, will you?" Sasuke yelled, giving it a shake.

"What are we going to do with Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Should we just leave him here until the morning?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Nah, he'll probably be eaten by a bear or something. We should drag him along." Sakura, who would never _ever_ question Sasuke's word, grabbed the back of Naruto's collar and pulled him along against the uncomfortable, forest floor.

"We're done, sensei!" Sakura called.

"Well done squad 7!" Kakashi replied, snapping his book closed and stuffing it into his pocket. "You finally thought of a strategy, did you?"

"It was all my idea! Believe it!" came Naruto's booming voice. Oh no. He was awake. His two team-mates decided not to protest and let him "believe it" for once. "Hey sensei, we should be going on bigger missions, huh? I mean, now that we've mastered catching animals and stuff, we should be out there hunting down _people_!"

Sasuke shivered with pleasure. For once, he had to agree with Naruto, because his brother was still out there (the brother who had amusedly murdered every member of their family besides Sasuke himself). Although Sasuke spent the majority of his time toying around on these pointless missions, he was hoping that eventually they would enable him to reach a strength that would surpass his brother's. "He's right," Sasuke said. "I mean, the Chunin Exams were much harder than this. We're definitely capable of handling another mission like the one to The Land of Waves."

"Er…" Sakura said lamely. "I'm not saying that it wouldn't be _fun _to go on big missions… but, humans aren't colour-blind, so I'm always an easy target." Sakura pointed to her bubblegum-pink hair and twirled a strand around her finger.

"Then why do you keep dyeing it?" Naruto asked.

"I-"

"She doesn't dye it," Sasuke said. "It's a blood-line trait."

"It's-"

"No way! _No one_ has hair that colour!" Naruto's voice began to rise.

"It's probably a trait that is unique to her clan!" Sasuke's voice also began to rise. "In my clan, nearly all of the male members have a scar on either side of their nose!"

"Well, you don't. Does that mean that you aren't a _male_?"

"Say that again and taste my fist!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Sakura screeched. "And just for that, I'm not going to tell_ either_ of you why I have pink hair!" Sakura turned on the ball of her foot and stalked off in the direction of the village. As she paced further away, her muttering could be heard: _"Boy's are so stupid…the nerve of those two…"_

"See what you did Sasuke? You hurt her feelings!" Naruto said with a frown.

"No, it was you," Sasuke grumbled.

"Boys, be quiet and listen to me!" Kakashi whispered sternly. He had endured just about enough of their continuous bickering. "Look here, how about we make it a mission? You know, to find out why she has pink hair?" _It could be a way for them to work on their team-work…_

"That's stupid," Sasuke said with a groan.

Naruto's eyes flashed mischievously. "If it _is _a blood-line trait," he said slyly, "I'll give you one hundred tomatoes." Sasuke twitched. "But if she _is _using hair-dye, you have to buy me fifty bowls of ramen!"

"YOU'RE ON!" Sasuke exclaimed, a creepy, fiery look in his eyes.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Alright, and just to make sure that the two of you don't get into a fight," he said, "I'll tag along."

"Ok! We'll meet on the bridge tomorrow at nine o'clock! Don't be late, sensei!" Naruto said, waving an accusing finger in Kakashi's face.

"I'll try not to get lost."

"I'll be there. No sweat."

"Believe it!"


	2. A Stealthy Plan

Chapter 2: A Stealthy Plan

**Chapter 2: A Stealthy Plan**

"_Yawn. _So why did we have to meet here so early again?" Naruto asked the other two, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Don't ask me," Sasuke said, eyes flashing dangerously. "You're the one who chose the time."

Kakashi, who had tried desperately to not be late (and _was _late anyways), said, "We need to come up with a plan. What are we going to do first?"

"I know! We need to see if she has any bottles of hair dye!" Naruto proclaimed, punching the air. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" Sasuke said, grabbing the back of Naruto's shirt. "You want to sneak into her _house_?"

"Why not?"

"What if she's home?" Sasuke wondered aloud, imagining the possible (and painful) outcomes.

"Well, that's where Kakashi-sensei will come in!" Kakashi looked up from his book with a dazed expression. "We want you to lure Sakura out of her house!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes (Well, only one of his eyes was visible, but the other two assumed that his other eye was rolling too). "Wouldn't Sasuke be better for that job?" Kakashi asked, amusement in his tone.

"I'm not luring her anywhere!" Sasuke snapped.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't trust Sasuke with _my _Sakura anyways. So sensei, just tell her that we've got a new meeting place for our missions or something like that. Meanwhile, Sasuke and I can sneak in somehow."

"I don't like how this is sounding," Sasuke uttered. Other than Sasuke's small complaints, the first plan was a go.

_Ding Dong! _

"Nice to see you Kakashi-sensei! What brings you here?"

"I just thought I'd let you know that temporarily, we have changed training grounds. I believe that Naruto and Sasuke are already there…"

"Ok! Now's our chance!" exclaimed Naruto, who was clinging to the ledge of her roof.

Swiftness is a virtue for a ninja in order to complete a mission properly and successfully. You must carefully plan a strategy and be aware of your surroundings.

Naruto swung his leg around, ready to dive into Sakura's open window… "_SMASH!" _went the flower pot Naruto's foot had just collided with. Sasuke slapped his forehead and pulled Naruto inside just as Sakura looked up. "What was that?!" she gasped, squinting through the sunlight.

"A bird," Kakashi said, as if birds crashing into people's flower pots were nothing out of the ordinary. His monotone frightened Sakura a little.

"You're kidding!" she gasped, running back into the house.

"Wait!" Kakashi called. "Where are you going?" But Kakashi knew where she was going. She was going to her room, outside where the "bird" had just collided with her flower pot and where Sasuke and Naruto were now stranded. "Uh oh."

"Naruto! Get out of there! She's coming up the stairs!" Sasuke called to Naruto, who was rummaging through the cupboards in her small washroom.

"What?!" Naruto shouted, jumping back.

"Hide! Quick!" said Kakashi.

"Hey! When did you get here?" Naruto asked.

"I climbed in through the window. But never mind that! If Sakura catches us in here, she'll beet us to a bloody pulp!" Kakashi said as quietly as he could.

_Click _went the doorknob. As quick as a flash, Kakashi and Naruto dived into her washroom and Sasuke backed into her closet, closing the door just in time. He left it open a crack, just enough to watch her movements.

Sakura ran over to her window, still ajar, leaning out in search of the "bird". It was no where in sight, so she picked up the shards of her shattered flower pot_._

She walked towards her door but stopped when she heard a sudden banging sound coming from her bathroom. Raising her eyebrow, she opened the washroom door… stepped inside…

_This is bad, _Sasuke thought, _Naruto and Kakashi are going to get busted!_ It was now his turn to take action. Before he realized what he was doing, he kicked the door of the closet. _BAM!_ Sakura turned to face it, confused. She walked towards it. _Great. _She reached out, ready to grab its handles. Wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise; to be face-to-face with your team-mate who just so happened to be hiding in your closet? But Sasuke knew better. He would _never _let that happen.

Just as Sakura wrenched the door open, Sasuke disappeared and reappeared behind her. Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder, and before she was ready to react, she was being shoved into the closet, the door slamming shut behind her. "EEK!!"

Sasuke mouthed for the other two to get out of there as he held the door shut. Naruto and Kakashi raced out of the washroom and Sasuke locked Sakura's closet door, which she was pounding on. Sasuke followed the other two out the window, passing Sakura's collection of "Sasuke plushies". He cringed.

Sasuke managed to scramble onto the roof just as he heard Sakura blow a hole in her closet door. Sakura pulled out a kunai-knife and waved it around wildly. "Show yourself!" she called. Then she remembered the noise she had heard coming from her washroom. She opened the door slowly and sprang inside; preparing to attack the invader… but no one was there.

The shower curtains were closed, so she pulled them open. She screamed.

No, it wasn't one of her three team-mates she had found, nor was it a person… but is was something else that was all-too-familiar to Sakura. She picked up the orange book called "Make-Out Paradise." "Kakashi-sensei…," she growled.

"Hey, what's up sensei?" Naruto asked, noticing Kakashi freeze up suddenly. His hand was in his weapons pouch and he seemed to be searching for something.

"Make-Out… Paradise… is… gone!" Kakashi cried, pulling his hand out of his pocket and starting at it with horror.

"You don't mean…," Sasuke said slowly, hoping beyond _hope_ that it wasn't still-

"It's in Sakura's house?!" Naruto cried. "Well that's _your_ problem, not ours sensei! Go get it back!" Naruto stood up and stomped his foot on the roof.

"_Alone_?!" Kakashi asked, eyes widening. His appearance started to turn chibi. "You have to be kidding me! I am _not_ going back-,"

Before Kakashi was ready for it, Sasuke and Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Hey! Wait for me!"

"Sensei?" said a cold voice. "You forgot this."

Kakashi gasped when he saw a familiar pink-haired ninja (who was also his student), climbing up onto the roof, brandishing 'Make-Out Paradise' in his face. "Right," Kakashi said, snatching it out of her grasp and he too disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a confused Sakura behind.

What was he getting himself into? This was a plan originally made for Naruto and Sasuke, who needed to work on their teamwork. All that he, Kakashi, was supposed to be doing was supervising, making sure that the other two didn't get into a fight. But now? Kakashi had been the only one to get caught and take the blame! Perhaps this whole new-mission thing had been a bad idea from the start.

**OPERATION 1: FAILED!**


	3. The Mission Within the Mission

**Chapter 3: The Mission Within the Mission.**

The Genin, who are the youngest _and _the lamest ninja in the Leaf Village, are usually the most determined but clumsy ninja. Therefore, they are permitted to go on D-Rank Missions; for example: picking up garbage, baby-sitting, dog-walking, and other simple tasks along those lines.

But, if these young ninja pass an excruciatingly difficult exam, they may proceed to the next level: Chunin. Until they become Chunin or even Jonin, it would be a very dumb idea to let a team of inexperienced Genin to go on a C-Rank (or higher for that matter) Mission.

Once and _only _once had there been an exception. After Naruto's temper-tantrum, the Hokage (village leader) let Squad 7 go on one teeny, tiny, little C-Rank Mission. There isn't a big difference between a C-Rank and a D-Rank, right? For instance, there won't be any real ninja battles, right?

Wrong.

Out of all of the possible C-Ranked Missions, they had to choose the one with the client who was lying. Rather than acting as guides, Squad 7 acted as body-guards, protecting their client from ninja villains who attacked in broad-daylight. The villain who proved himself to be the greatest obstacle was Zabuza, the Demon.

On this mission, Kakashi (who is a Jonin), was forced to use all of his strength, collapsing once and tearing through an enemy right in front of his three students' innocent eyes. Actually, only two of his three students' eyes.

Sasuke would have been dead if it weren't for their opponent's soft-heatedness. Needles punctured everything but Sasuke's vital organs, Sakura had an incredibly depressing melt-down, and Naruto was emotionally scarred for several reasons.

Nope. This was never going to happen again. _Ever. _

It had been a stupid idea to let under-aged, inexperienced ninja to go on such a dangerous mission in the first place. Never again was Naruto going to convince him into another dangerous situation. Kakashi could easily handle a C-Ranked Mission (seeing as he's already done 197 D-Ranks, 189 C-Ranks, 413 B-Ranks, 276 A-Ranks and even 38 S-Ranks), but as for his three students? No way.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were still Genin. Out of all of the participants in the Chunin Exam in which they had done, only Shikamaru Nara had passed and become a Chunin. Everyone else was still stuck as Genin. As exceptional as they may be, they are still Genin. Right?

Yes, Naruto _was _a fool, but at times, he had been able to step into the spotlight, using unknown powers that had much to do with the nine-tailed fox sealed inside him.

And then there was Sasuke. There wouldn't be anything more to say about him other than the fact that his talent would definitely surpass the Chunin level.

Lastly, there was Sakura. She may not have stunning physical abilities, but she _did _have what her other team-mates lacked: brains. Sakura had intelligence that rivalled Shikamaru's. Not only that, but Sakura would put her own life on the line for the sake of her comrades.

"Iruka? I _did _ask you a question. So what do you think? Should we let these brats go on a C-Rank Mission or what?" asked Tsunade, the current Hokage.

Iruka snapped out of his train of thought and glanced back at the four ninja before him. He looked at all of them carefully; Sasuke's determined expression, Sakura's hopeful smile and Naruto's pout. His eyes lingered on Naruto for a moment before glancing at Kakashi and then back at the Hokage. "I think they will be fine. Let them go."

Tsunade and Kakashi's eyebrows shot upwards. "Really Iruka?" Tsunade asked unsurely. "Only moments ago, you were raving about the dangers-,"

"I know I was, but I reconsidered. These three students have shown growth over the years, and I think I should agree with Kakashi for once and start treating them like the excellent ninja they really are, rather than children. Besides, they are _his _students now. Not mine," Iruka finished, drawing a breath and regaining his composure. But to his dismay, his composure was soon ruined when he was locked in a tight hug.

"Oh Iruka-sensei!" Naruto cried, diving over the counter. "You are such an awesome teacher!" Iruka couldn't help but smile as fatherly memories returned to him. Sakura, who was inspired by this tender moment, grabbed Sasuke's arm; Sasuke shaking her off in turn. Kakashi seemed slightly dumbfounded by Iruka's awe-inspiring speech.

"So it's settled?" Kakashi asked slowly. "Just like that? Even after what happened last time?"

Tsunade smiled. "Iruka is confident that this squad has grown enough to go on a C-Ranked Mission. So, here it is:-,"

Naruto slid off the counter and faced Tsunade, alert. "You are to travel to the Rice Village and take the purple scroll that is hidden in the Village's prison. You may encounter a few minor threats, but nothing more."

"What is the purpose of stealing this scroll?" Sasuke asked quickly, Sakura nodding vigorously at his side.

"Er…a top-secret purpose that you have no right to know," Tsunade said and receiving a sideways glance from Kakashi and Iruka.

"But we have-,"

"No more questions! Tut tut! Off you go now! See you in a few days!" she said, scooting them out the door. Iruka watched them carefully until the door was shut on their retreating forms.

"I hope they don't have to fight," Iruka said, standing and turning to go.

"Hey! You just said that they had your full confidence! But _now_ you doubt them?" Tsunade asked with a hand on her hip. Iruka shrugged and departed the room, leaving a confused and slightly worried Tsunade behind.

"Woo Hoo!" Naruto exclaimed, raising a fist into the air. "This is my second time leaving the village in my whole life!"

"No, it's your third time, doofas. We've already gone to the Land of Waves _and _The Tea Country. Remember?" Sakura said, sighing.

Squad 7 departed Konoha's front gates and down the dirt road towards its vanishing point with back-packs slung over their shoulders. Naruto was in the lead (although he had no idea where he was going), with Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura trailing behind. They travelled for approximately twenty minutes through the countryside towards the Land of Rice. By then, Naruto's spunkiness was slowly beginning to turn into continuous complaints. "I'm hungry. Are we there yet? Do they have any ramen in the Land of Rice? Sasuke, stop walking next to Sakura! What time is it? My bag's heavy. My back hurts. Are you guys even list-,"

"SHUT UP NARUTO!" Sakura boomed, not able to take his antics any longer.

"We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon," Kakashi said matter-of-factly, while pulling out his orange book. This sparked something in Sakura's memory, and she picked up her pace and started walking well ahead of Naruto.

Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto's collar as soon as Sakura was out of ear-shot. "So is the bet still on? Are we going to keep trying?"

Naruto nodded immediately. "Oh yeah! I already have a couple of ideas!"

Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed a little uneasy. "I-… well you see …as you know, I got caught last time and Sakura is probably aware that I am involved… so I don't think that I should do much more to infuriate her." The other two seemed surprised. "I'm not saying that you two can't carry on. Heck, I'm all for it! Please proceed! But, I just don't want to get involved. I _am _the teacher after all."

"So you're backing out?" Naruto asked, glumly.

"No he's not!" Sasuke interjected. "He was never really part of the bet in the first place! He had nothing to prove!"

"Hey, I'm not backing out completely! I can still give you guy's suggestions, but I just don't want to get _involved._ Besides, _one _of us has to stay focused on the real mission."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Naruto said, frowning in concentration. "And I'm hungry."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We already know that Naruto. Just because _you're _hungry-,"

"Um, I'm a little hungry too," Sakura, who had finally realized that she was being excluded, said quietly.

"Oh ok. I guess we should keep our eyes open for somewhere to eat," Sasuke said, his mood changing suddenly. The four of them looked around, but all they could see was the dirt path, farmland on their right, and a forest on their left.

"Urg," Naruto grumbled. "Maybe we should just take some food from the farmers. They probably won't mind, right?"

Sakura shook her head, although it was sounding like a pretty good idea at the moment. "No Naruto. What if-," but Sakura stopped because Naruto had already run out into the field, crouching down and looking for eatable food.

"Aw man, this stuff doesn't seem ready to be eaten," Naruto groaned. "But I guess it will have to do." Without hesitation, Naruto picked as many vegetables as he could hold and ran back towards his team-mates. "Here everybody take some! At least they're fresh, right?" He received no answer. "Righ-? Hey, where are you guys going?!"

Kakashi was leading Sasuke and Sakura into the forest on the other side of the dirt road, leaving Naruto behind. "I think it was smart for them to run," said a deep, unfamiliar voice from behind him. Naruto turned and found himself gaping at an enormous man in blue overalls, who was holding a rake in his hand. Naruto's arm-load of veggies dropped along with his jaw.

"I-I'll just f-f-follow them," Naruto said, turning on the ball of his foot in the direction the others had run off.

"Not so fast!" the farmer boomed, raising his rake.

After narrowly dodging a few blows, Naruto sprinted off into the forest after the others. "WAIT FOR MEEEE!" he cried, bounding over roots and stumps.


	4. Dinner Time

**Chapter 4: Dinner Time**

Using his amazing ninja ability (yeah right), he sensed the others chakra. After running for five more minutes, he found the three of them sitting on the bank of a small stream. Sasuke spotted Naruto first and groaned. After hearing him, Sakura looked up too. "Aw shoot, I thought we'd lost him back there."

Naruto put his hands on his hips. "You could never lose me, Sakura! Believe it!" Sakura rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked, looking up from his book.

"I'm going to look for berries or mushrooms or _anything _for us to eat. Sasuke and Naruto, you can look for fish. Oh yes, and you should get a fire going too, Sasuke." The two boys nodded. Neither of them had mothers, but Sakura seemed to have a dangerous aura that no man would want to mess with.

Sakura disappeared into the forest with a small basket she had in her back-pack. Once she was out of sight, Kakashi piped up. "Are you two planning to do anything yet?" he asked quietly.

"I thought you said you had a few ideas Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Sure I do!" The other two looked up with interest. "Ok, the first plan is to drench her. What if the hair-dye's washable? Then it should come right out!"

"I doubt that it's washable," Kakashi muttered.

"No! I'm sure that it'll work! All we have to do is push her into the stream and see if her hair turns a different colour!" Naruto exclaimed, punching the air.

Sasuke shook his head. "No way. That's the dumbest plan I've ever heard. Besides, she'll be cold afterwards. I don't think she'd be able to fit very many changes of clothes into her bag."

Naruto frowned. "So, how are we going to wet her hair without getting the rest of her wet too?" The other two had no suggestions.

"Well, I'm going to get some firewood," Kakashi said, stuffing the book into his weapons pouch. "I'm afraid that I can't help you this time, boys. You'll have to figure this one out on your own." He vanished from view.

Naruto and Sasuke began unrolling sleeping bags while lost in thought (with stomachs growling). Meanwhile, Sakura and Kakashi both returned, Sakura carrying the basket that was now filled to the rim with berries and Kakashi with the firewood. "So did you guys catch any fish?" Sakura asked.

After exchanging nervous looks of realization, Sasuke and Naruto both said, "No…"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "No? Then what have you been doing all this time?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Uh-,"

"How about _I _catch the fish?" Kakashi suggested, saving Naruto and Sasuke from this awkward situation. Sakura seemed a little surprised herself, but she nodded all the same. From behind Sakura's back, Kakashi mouthed, "You guys owe me!"

"And I'll light the fire," Sasuke said, changing the subject. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A small, controlled flame grew from his mouth in a straight line towards the piled logs, which became a satisfying campfire moments later.

"Well done, Sasuke!" Naruto said, thumping Sasuke on the back. He had to restrain himself from spitting fire everywhere.

Sakura plopped down onto her sleeping bag and placed the basket before her. "I hope they're not poisonous," she uttered to Sasuke before offering the berries to Naruto. Sasuke smirked as Naruto accepted the offer.

"I caught four fish!" Kakashi called in a sing-song voice.

"Greff!" Naruto said through a mouthful of berries.

"I'll get some sticks to roast them on," Sakura said, running back into the forest.

Naruto leaned forwards so that the other two could hear him better. "I have a plan," he whispered.

The other two waited, but he didn't elaborate. Sasuke opened his mouth to question Naruto, but by then, Sakura had returned. After handing the sticks to Kakashi, she sat down again, popping a few berries into her mouth. "Hm, they aren't bad. A little sour… but still. They're… bearable. Would you like some Kakashi? Sasuke?"

"Yes please!" Naruto said, grabbing another handful.

"Hey I wasn't asking you!" Sakura yelled. Naruto seemed oblivious.

"Ok," Kakashi replied, grabbing a few from her basket.

"What about you, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, picking up the basket and waving it under his nose.

"No," he said, "I'm not hungry."

"HE LIES!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at him. "Stuff his face, Sakura!"

Sasuke motioned to roll his eyes, but froze suddenly. To his horror, Sakura had obeyed Naruto and had shoved a fistful of berries into his mouth. "'A-oo-ra!" Sasuke barely managed to gasp without spitting berries all over her face. He tried to frown, but found himself unable to with his mouth so full. He sat there and glared at his team-mates, not even bothering to try to swallow it.

Naruto was rolling around on the ground laughing, while Sakura was covering her face with her hands, stifling giggles. Even Kakashi, who looked up from the fire, made a funny snorting sound that was filled with amusement.

Closing his eyes with defeat, Sasuke chewed it to the best of his ability and swallowed it all in one gulp. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he stood up and made a bee-line towards Naruto. _BOP! _"Hey what was that for?" Naruto cried, feeling the rising lump on his head.

"For being stupid," Sasuke said, sticking his nose in the air and walking back to his sleeping bag.

"Here guys, the fish are ready!" Kakashi called, handing one out to each of them.

"Sweet!" Naruto said excitedly. Naruto put the whole fish in his mouth, chewed for a moment or two, and then pulled out the bones and threw them into the stream. "That was good! If you guys can't finish yours, then I-… what are you all looking at?" Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi, who were nibbling at their fish, were staring at him with expressions of utter disgust.

"Nothing," Sasuke said, looking down, carefully ripping apart his own fish. Kakashi had his back turned to them, so they weren't able to see his face. Sakura put her fish down.

"I'm not very hungry anymore," Sakura said, glancing from Naruto down to her fish.

Before she was ready for it, Sasuke said (in a rather un-Sasuke-ish manner), "SHE LIES!" and he picked up her fish and shoved it into her mouth.

Sakura looked absolutely appalled, and after taking a couple of bites, she pulled it out of her mouth. Sasuke was chuckling, "A-ha, revenge is sweet." Sakura glared at him for a moment before walking over to Naruto. _BOP!_

"Hey!" he cried, rubbing the new lump on his head. "What was that for?"

"That was for grossing me out, causing me to lose my appetite, and giving Sasuke an opportunity for revenge!" Sakura hollered. Naruto had no come-back because he didn't understand a word of it. Sasuke was still chuckling and Kakashi was probably reading his book behind his back.

Sakura sat down on her sleeping bag, determinedly not looking at anything in particular (especially the snickering Sasuke on her right). She was so focused on absolutely nothing in fact, that she didn't notice Naruto approach her from behind. But Sasuke, on the contrary to Sakura, noticed Naruto immediately and his laughing ceased. Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto raised his fist. "Naruto stop! What are you-?" but Sasuke had no time to finish, because Naruto's fist had already made its decent towards Sakura's pink-haired head.

Sakura and Kakashi looked at Sasuke with confusion. "Naruto! He's-," Sasuke began, but then he noticed that Naruto's hand had stopped moving and was hovering just above Sakura's head. Before Sakura had a chance to look up, Naruto's squeezed his fist, berry juice oozing through his clenched fingers.

"EEEK!" Sakura screeched as the purple berry-juice started dripping down her pink locks. "NARUTO!"

"E-heh-heh… er… oops?" Naruto said lamely.

"OOPS? OOPS? IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY, NARUTO? THIS BERRY JUICE WILL STAIN! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Sakura boomed, nearly blowing Naruto away.

Sasuke and Kakashi exchanged nervous glances. Was this part of Naruto's new plan or was this just Naruto's stupidity running wild? "NOW WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?" Sakura cried, holding back tears. Sakura took a lot of pride in her hair, and she _didn't _want to have to cut it any shorter than it already was. The last time she cut her hair was during the second round of the Chunin Exams to save Sasuke's life. (I'm not going to get into detail, so just so you know, it's in episode 32).

"I know!" Naruto said with false cheeriness. "We could wash it for you!"

"Wash it-?" Sasuke repeated, but it was then that his brain finally began to process the information. So it had been Naruto's plan all along. Washing Sakura's hair is a way of getting _only _her head wet, sparing the rest of her. "Oh. Uh, ok," Sasuke said dumbly.

"No you guys shouldn't-," Sakura began, but stopped quickly and averted her eyes to Naruto, who was now rummaging through her bag. "Naruto! What do you think you're doing?!" Naruto withdrew his arm, holding her bottle of shampoo and conditioner.

"This should work, shouldn't it?" Naruto asked, grabbing Sakura's arm and dragging her over to the stream. Before Sakura had time to reply, Naruto had already shoved her head under the cold water. The sun was beginning to set now and a chilly breeze began to blow.

"Hey Naruto, make sure she can breathe!" Sasuke called, clambering to his feet and following them to the stream. Sasuke pulled Sakura's head out of the water, who was now gasping and spluttering.

"Oopsie!" Naruto said sheepishly, squeezing a large quantity of shampoo onto her head. He spread it around messily, and then began to scrub.

Sakura looked like she was trying to say something, but before she had the chance to do so, she would have her head accidentally knocked under the water, and then forced back up. "Man, Naruto, you're really bad at this!" Sasuke said, pulling Sakura up to the surface for the fifth time.

"Hey, cut me some slack, Sasuke! I've never done this before!" Naruto said, checking the top of her head. "And I've got good news Sakura! The berry juice is coming out! Sakura?"

It was then that the other two realized that she had been held under the water for over ten seconds. "Naruto, you idiot!" Sasuke yelled, pulling her out all the way. Sakura was now sitting on her knees, water dripping down her pale face (some of the droplets having spilled from her eyes), and she was shivering with her wet hair sticking to her face.

After wiping her face on her arm and coughing a few times, Sakura snatched the now half-empty shampoo bottle from Naruto's grasp, and staggered away towards her sleeping bag and back-pack. "I guess I was a little rough," Naruto said, lost in thought. "But she'll be fine. Sakura's tough. Anyways, Sasuke, I didn't have enough time to really tell if it was washable or not because of all the bubbles. But I think Kakashi-sensei's right: It probably isn't washable. What do you think?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged with an angered expression in his eyes. He stood up suddenly. "What's the matter with you?" Naruto asked, but was silenced when Sasuke's dark eyes flashed dangerously.

"Naruto," Sasuke said quietly, his eyes much darker than usual, "that was careless. Don't do it again." Naruto raised his eyebrows as Sasuke retreated to the sleeping bags to put out the fire.

**OPERSTION 2: FAILED!**

**That was a pretty goofy chapter, huh? What do you think so far? Should the plot stay as silly as it is or should it get more serious? I wouldn't mind hearing opinions… (pwetty pwease!) **


	5. Seeing through Deceptions

**Chapter 5: Seeing through Deceptions**

Sakura awoke the next morning with a frown and a freezing cold head. She squinted her eyes in the morning sunlight, and slowly lifted her eyelids to reveal shining emeralds. As she sat up, she quickly pulled out her hairbrush, combing through the tangles before she put on her headband. She turned to her right and saw her three team-mates sleeping bags. Kakashi was on the far end with his orange book over his face… Sakura frowned at this. Every time she saw this book (which was quite often with Kakashi around), angry memories returned to her.

Next to Kakashi was Naruto, drool hanging out of his mouth, his loud snores echoing through the trees… Sakura was angry with him too. The reason she felt so depressed on this beautiful morning was because of _him_.

The last sleeping bag was the only one that wasn't occupied. Sakura wasn't surprised though; Sasuke was probably out training somewhere nearby. Momentarily, he was the only member of her squad who she was yet to hold a grudge against. But then again, Sasuke hardly even talked to her, so she usually had little reason to be cross with him. She couldn't help but notice that he, along with the others, had been acting rather unusual recently.

Whenever she had been more than a few strides away, the other three had been acting rather secretive. Even Naruto! Although she usually tried to keep a passive expression, she couldn't help but be slightly suspicious.

Without further ado, Sakura stood up, stretched, and walked into the forest with her back-pack to get changed and ready. When she returned, Naruto and Kakashi hadn't moved an inch, and could even pass as dead if it weren't for Naruto's snoring. There was one change this time though: Sasuke was sitting on his sleeping bag. Before him, the fire was again lit with more fish roasting on sticks.

"Good morning," Sakura said hesitantly, wondering whether he had sensed her presence by now. But by judging his unflinching facade, he had sensed her long before she had seen him. He spared her a quick glance before immediately reverting his gaze back to the burning flames before him. Sakura made her way over to her own sleeping bag to put her pyjamas away.

She sat down too, waiting for the fish to cook and watching the stream, flowing through the mounds of rocks. The sun was rising, painting the sky pink and yellow with its long tongue-like beams. The leaves above rustled in the cool, spine-tingling breeze, the bases of the tree-trunks were decorated with vibrantly-coloured flowers; the dew clinging to the petals sparkled… Sakura felt pure bliss for the first time in awhile, and out of the corner of her eye, she was sure that she saw a small smile creep to Sasuke's lips. Yes this was perfect; no disturbances, no Narut-

_SNOOORE! _A sudden, honking gurgle of a snore made its way to their ears (to their great displeasure). "That Naruto!" Sakura muttered, more to herself than anyone else. She forced herself out of her comfortable position and up onto her feet.

"Oh, just kick him or something," Sasuke said with a grunt. "Besides, he should be awake by now."

Sakura shrugged, trying to hide her smile. "Oh well-… if I must." Daintily, she tottered over in Naruto's direction, halting at the base of his sleeping bag. She paused, almost as if she were deciding on the best way to do this, and then she made her conclusion rather obvious by giving his a swift, hard kick to the sole of his foot.

Naruto's whole body was shifted upwards a couple of inches, his head no longer on his pillow but the on grass behind it. "Snore…snort…uh," he said, his blue eyes fluttering open. "Sa-Sakura? What a wonderful sight to wake up to," Naruto said dreamily, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"Shut it!" Sakura barked, acting much more ferocious with him than usual. "Now roll your sleeping bag up and get ready to leave!" she ordered, turning on the ball of her foot with her nose in the air.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke for help, but he only shrugged, so Naruto did as he was told and dashed off into the forest to change. Sakura walked in the opposite direction, towards the fire, checking on the fish and preparing to serve them. "Oh yes, um, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, her mood turning sweet and falsely happy. "Do you think you could wake up Kakashi-sensei?"

Although her voice was calm, Sasuke could still feel the fury radiating off of her. "Sure thing," he said, twitching slightly, before jumping to his feet and stalking off in Kakashi's direction. Naruto returned seconds later, looking rather bouncy and bubbly.

"Wow Sakura! Did you make these fish? They're well-done!" Naruto said with a grin, trying to get back on Sakura's good side (if he even _had _ever been there).

"No it wasn't me; it was Sasuke who made them," Sakura said, smiling in Sasuke's direction (who had his back turned to them).

"Oh… Sasuke, huh? Well, I mean: These fish are disgusting! What did you do to them Sasuke?!" Naruto called over, making gagging sounds. Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto before turning back to Kakashi.

Slowly, Sasuke removed the orange book from Kakashi's face… and then he let out a yell. "ARUGHHH!" Sasuke cried, falling backwards.

"Ha ha! I got you didn't I?" Kakashi said with a grin. "I was awake all along!" Kakashi snatched the book out of Sasuke's grasp before standing up.

"D-don't do that!" Sasuke ordered, scrambling to his own feet.

Kakashi only grinned (from somewhere beneath the mask) and left to get ready. The others packed up, ate a quick breakfast, and departed the small campground. "We should be in the Rice Country by this afternoon if all goes well," Kakashi said, checking a map and his watch. He led the other three out of the forest and back onto the dirt path.

As they started walking, Sasuke asked, "Where was the scroll hidden again? The Village's prison? Why would it be there?"

Kakashi didn't even bother turning around as he answered. "I have no idea. Tsunade was very blunt with our instructions so the meaning of this Mission is not entirely clear. Another thing that had been bothering me is that I believe that this mission shouldn't be C-Ranked. If I were Hokage, I would make this at least B-Ranked. On C-Ranked Missions, we aren't supposed to be retrieving foreign items from other countries. Especially countries occupied with ninja."

"There are ninja in the Rice Country?!" Sakura asked.

"Well, there's a much smaller military base than the Leaf Village, but yes. It is their method of self-defence too." Sasuke was lost in thought, Sakura's highly-skilled brain was racking for some sort of conclusion, and Naruto was staring out into the fields on their right.

"But wait, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said suddenly. "They aren't ruled by one the Five Kage's, like the Hokage, so what does that mean? Does it mean that it's like the Sound Village and was created by someone like Oroachimaru?"

Sasuke's head jerked up to look at her. "I hope not," he said, his hand automatically reaching up to the pit of his neck and shoulder to touch the curse mark in which Oroachimaru had inflicted. Sakura noticed this and worry etched across her face.

"I… I honestly don't know," Kakashi said quietly. "But if that were the case, then this Mission should have been labelled A-Ranked or even S-Ranked. But then again, I doubt that Tsunade would overlook something so significant." Despite Kakashi's words of encouragement, they could all tell that he was taking heed of Sakura's sudden theory.

Naruto, who hadn't spoken in awhile, suddenly piped up. "I don't think Oroachimaru's behind this. Besides, why would he need another country to run in the first place?" The others had no further comment to contribute, but an eerie silence replaced the bubbly anxiety. Seeing this as a chance to speak his mind, Naruto continued. "I mean, he's already busy searching for a new body to manipulate, why would he bother creating a new country?"

Sasuke shuddered, and clenched the curse mark even more tightly. Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto all knew why: It was because _he_, Sasuke Uchiha, was the new body in which Oroachimaru was trying to get his hands on…

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked quickly, changing the subject. "How old it the Rice Village?"

"Hm," Kakashi said to himself, "Quite old, I presume. Slightly younger than the Leaf Village though. So now that I think about it, Oroachimaru _can't _have founded that Village; he's only fifty years old."

"Yeah, yeah… but it does make you wonder, doesn't it? It seems really similar to the Sound Village," Naruto said, before sneaking off into the farmland to steal some veggies. This time, the others didn't bother to protest. This journey just might end up being more than they had bargained for. And if what they had concluded was true, how on earth would they find the time to even _consider _uncovering the truth behind Sakura's pink hair?

Their journey to the Rice Village became much less pleasant. It almost felt as if they were walking straight into one of Oroachimaru's traps…

Kakashi listened to his students' conversations and his discomfort only began to grow. Naruto wondered whether Tsunade had been possessed when the Mission had been given to her, and this whole thing had been Oroachimaru's idea from the start. Sakura was obsessing over how difficult it would be to conceal her presence from an enemy with her bubblegum-pink hair always standing out. But what worried Kakashi the most wasn't Naruto's jumpy conclusions or Sakura's worries for what was yet to come… but is was Sasuke's silence that he found the most intriguing.

**The story sort of took a bit of a serious spin after that chapter, huh? Don't worry, they aren't going to give up on the pink-hair mission; they're just going to have a few big distractions that are going to make it a lot more difficult. Hope you like it so far! (I still like opinions…)**


	6. What! Another Mission?

**Hey there! Sorry for the super slow update. My whole computer crashed so I had to wait for it to get fixed before I had a chance to do anything. Oh yes, and I'm about ¾ of the way done the next chapter for "Konoha Adventures", but at the moment, I'm really into this story instead! I already have the whole plot planned out and I can't wait to get to the good parts! Here's chapter 6:**

**Chapter 6: What?! Another Mission?!**

At their lunch break, Sasuke still didn't speak. His three team-mates sat on a picnic blanket to enjoy the food that Naruto had recently stolen (and it took a lot of pursuing to share it), but Sasuke didn't want to sit anywhere near them.

It all made perfect sense at the moment. All of those stupid "what if's" Naruto had thought up were all making sense to Sasuke. If somehow Tsunade had been forced to give them this mission, Oroachimaru's goal was quite clear: it was he, Sasuke, who Oroachimaru was after. Not only was Sasuke scared for his life, but at the pit of his stomach, he could feel a knot tightening… he would never admit this, but he was afraid for the lives of his comrades.

Naruto had put up a pretty good fight every time Oroachimaru would show up, but Oroachimaru was still way out of his league. And if Naruto couldn't do it, and if Sasuke crippled before Oroachimaru in their last encounter, than Sakura could never _ever _match Oroachimaru's strength. Even Kakashi would be forced to fight to his full extent.

"Hey Sasuke! Where are you?" Sakura called from somewhere behind a large tree.

"Oh chicken-butt! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

_BONK! _

"OW! Gee, I didn't mean anything against _you _Sakura! Why are you so-,"

_BONK!_

"Urg, I didn't even-,"

_BONK!_

Naruto and Sakura soon appeared around the corner of the tree; Naruto supporting giant lumps on his head. Sakura's expression was very cold (and frightening), but her eyes lit up when they met those of her raven-haired team-mate. "Sasuke I-," Sakura began, but to her surprise, Naruto cut her off.

"Sakura… um, if you don't mind," he said, slightly unsurely, "I would like to talk to Sasuke." He was obviously trying his absolute hardest to sound polite.

"So?"

"Er… you know. A man-to-man talk," Naruto said, trying not to anger Sakura any more than he had. When Sakura was still unmoving, Naruto glanced at Sasuke for help, but Sasuke made no motion to do so. Naruto sighed. "I would like to speak to Sasuke alone."

Sakura seemed a little surprised. It was very rare for Naruto to want to talk to his arch-rival so desperately. "I…," Sakura said, rather stupidly, glancing from Naruto to Sasuke. Something was going on. "Fine. Whatever," Sakura said, turning on the ball of her foot. She clearly hated being left out of conversations, so before leaving, she hastily added another lump to Naruto's head.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked with boredom purposely etched in with his tone.

"About the whole 'pinkie' thing…," Naruto said in an under-tone, Sasuke giving him a curt nod, "um …if the real Mission _does _turn out being one of Oroachimaru's schemes …then-,"

"You want to put it aside, so we can focus on the real Mission?"

"No, I want to try to solve it _before _the real Mission!" Naruto said with a Gai-like pose (oh boy…).

"_Before?! _What, do you already have something in mind?" Sasuke asked, slightly surprised (and impressed) by Naruto's determination.

"Nope! I decided to leave all of the thinking to you!" Sasuke frowned at this. "_And _don't forget that this time, _you _have to do most of the work, because last time, _I _was the one who washed her hair and took all of the blame and _before_ that, it was Kakashi-sen-,"

"OK! I get it! It's my turn!" Sasuke shouted, but Naruto clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh! She'll hear you!" Naruto said, before Sasuke pried his hand off.

"Alright then. I've got to come up with a plan, huh?" Sasuke asked, lost in thought. "Well, the last plan had never actually been completed, had it?"

"So do you want to try to drench her again?" Naruto asked.

"Definitely not," Sasuke dead-panned. "But maybe …if somehow we could … I've got it! We'll dress up as enemy ninja, cut off a few strands of her hair and then we'll work with that!"

"What?!" Naruto said as quietly as he could. "You mean _attack _her?!"

Sasuke shook his head while standing. "No, not attack her… just sort of cause a distraction. Actually, if I go in alone, she probably won't even see me…," he said, staring off into the distance with a smug grin.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Sasuke! I mean, what if she thinks that Oroachimaru is behind it? She'll be scared to death! Why can't we just cut her hair normally?" Naruto asked (and some-what pleaded).

"She would be angry if she knew it was us. She doesn't like having her hair cut," Sasuke said, remembering the second stage of the Chunin Exams when Sakura was forced to cut her own hair. "So we'll have to make sure that we only take a couple of strands. Besides, as I said, she probably won't even see me."

"Hey! I'm not letting you go in alone! I want to be a part of this too! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, extending his fist into the air.

"Fine. But don't get in my way," Sasuke said, finality in his tone at last.

The two young boys walked back to the clearing where Sakura was now sitting against a tree, pouting. They tried to creep past her, but she caught them immediately. "Where do _you _two think you're going?" Sakura asked with a snarl.

"A walk," Naruto said as casually as he could. "Just the two of us." Sakura scowled, but she still didn't protest when they ran off into the forest. She didn't know what she preferred: Naruto and Sasuke continually fighting, or excluding her. Little did any of them realize Kakashi's initial plan was working…

It wasn't long before they reached the dirt path again. "Why did we run all the way back out here?" Naruto asked, absent-mindedly staring off into the distance.

"Well, we need something to wear don't we? Oh look! A couple of farmers!"

Naruto reluctantly followed Sasuke to their victims.

* * *

Sakura closed her eyes and let the gentle breeze tug at her pink strands of hair. She was still leaning against a tree, her other three team-mates no where in sight. She knew that Kakashi was sitting just around the corner with his orange book, but Sasuke and Naruto were …walking?

She sighed, but jerked her head up suddenly when she heard a twig snap a few metres ahead of her. She stood up immediately, her hand reaching for her hip where her weapon pouch was. The cracking and rustling grew louder. She had a feeling that there was more than one person; she could faintly sense various chakra-types. Through the twig-snapping, she could hear muffled voices: "Pink! I can see it! It's got to be her! Quickly think up a battle-formation and we'll attack!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she backed even further into the tree trunk. She took out a kunai-knife and held in front of her. "Ok!" she heard a voice say. "On the count of three! One-two-," but the mystery person was silenced and instead of a _"three"_, all that could be heard was a swish and a thud.

Sakura shuddered at the thought of what it must look like behind those bushes. Her knife had obviously made contact with a human, because she had been able to distinguish the sound of a body landing on the ground. This was the part she hated about being a ninja.

She reached for her weapons pouch again, but she was too late. One of her fallen enemy's comrades had come bursting out of the bushes, wearing blue overalls and a straw hat… But Sakura did not have a chance to see any more, because something unusually hard had made contact with the side of her head.

Her lack of consciousness prevented her from witnessing whatever happened next.

* * *

"Hurry up, idiot!" Sasuke said, now wearing blue overalls (picture that!) and a straw hat. Naruto stumbled, tripping over the legs of his own overalls (which were about 10 times too large for him).

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Naruto said, holding up the legs. "Where was Sakura again?"

"We were just there, numb-skull! Remember? In the clearing!" Sasuke said, picking up speed. "And try not to talk anymore or else she'll hear us!"

"I know that smarty-pants!"

"Shhh!"

They ran a little further, but were stopped when something grabbed the back of both of their shirts. "What the-?" Sasuke said, as he felt himself being lifted off of his feet.

"What have you done with her?"

"Huh?" Naruto said, his ears perking up at the sound of this familiar voice. "Kakashi-sensei! It's us!"

"Naruto? Sasuke? Why are you wearing those?" Kakashi asked, dropping them onto the forest floor.

"We were going to pretend to attack her," Naruto said, "and then cut off a few strands of her hair and see if any hair dye came out."

"Not _attack _her," Sasuke corrected angrily. "And what did you mean by _'What have you done with her?'_"

Kakashi didn't answer immediately. "Come with me," he said, before bounding off, Sasuke and Naruto on his tail. They recognized this as the clearing Sakura had been sitting in.

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto said immediately, spinning around.

"I'm not sure," Kakashi replied. "But I found something else that was most perplexing." They followed Kakashi over to a bush on the other side of the clearing. At its base, there was an arm that was lying in a pool freshly-spilled blood; the body in which it was connected to was hidden.

"Don't tell me that she… Is that-?" Sasuke began, his eyes widening. He was unable to finish.

"No. This isn't her. It was quite strange, but this person was a farmer- or at least, he was _dressed _as a farmer. From this, I am getting the impression that Sakura killed him… but her current whereabouts are unclear," Kakashi said, glancing down at the arm again.

"_She _killed him?" Sasuke said with surprise. He found it difficult to picture someone as gentle as Sakura actually going so far as to take someone's life. "Then she must have been being attacked. Right?"

"Then why is she missing?" Naruto asked, glancing around hopefully, as if Sakura would suddenly appear. "Do you think that this guy had team-mates who were hidden from view and attacked her once she dropped her guard?"

Kakashi nodded. "I'm assuming that they dragged her off to their head-quarters. And seeing as the Rice Village is the closest military base within miles from here, that's where they took her."

"But why _Sakura_?" Naruto asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"I …don't know," Kakashi said, picking up their bags. "But we'd better get moving. We officially have another mission, and it is now our top priority. Let's go," he said, slinging his and Sakura's bag over his shoulder.

Sasuke peered over his shoulder hopefully. What was this all about? Were they really after Sakura or were they trying to lure them in?

**OPERATION 3: FAILED! (No duh!)**

**Wow! The story turned from serious, to super-serious! Now we're sort of entering a new section to this story; finally solving the real mission! It may seem that the three boys have their hands full with the pink-haired mission, the scroll and saving Sakura, but little do they know, they're all tied together! I'm going to update another chapter right now!**


	7. Two Missing Members

**Here's chapter 7! (See? I updated really fast to make up for last time!)**

**Chapter 7: Two Missing Members**

Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke ran for three hours straight, passing nothing but farmland. Within half an hour, the forest had faded away into the distance, so all that was left was the dirt path and fields. "You two should be fine," Kakashi said, looking over his shoulder. "Wearing those disguises, I mean. I have a feeling that everyone in this village will be an enemy, and if they know that we're foreign ninja, they will probably attack us."

"What about you, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I'll attack the first farmer we see," Kakashi said, gaining more and more speed by the passing second. Naruto and Sasuke had to push themselves to be able to keep up with him, and they were beginning to grow tired. By now, Kakashi had found himself a disguise. "Oh! Look up ahead!" Kakashi said, pointing down the dirt road.

There was a towering wooden sign over the road, with bright red letters saying, "Welcome to the Rice Village." At the base of each post holding up the sign, there was a farmer standing there with his arms folded. When the three Leaf Ninja reached them, one of the farmers said, "State your purpose."

Slightly surprised, Kakashi replied, "We're just passing through."

Ever so slowly, the guard turned his head to look Kakashi in the eye. The other guard stared at Naruto and Sasuke. The guards strikingly resembled the farmer who was now lying dead on the forest floor. Not giving the farmer a chance to react, Kakashi swiped his hand over his head and knocked his hat off, revealing a ninja headband with a symbol of five dots in a horizontal line. "I knew it! The ninja here are disguised as farmers!" Kakashi exclaimed.

"Why you-!" the farmer cried, pulling out a fist-full of shuriken, but again, Kakashi was much too swift. Before the farmer-ninja even had time to _consider _throwing the weapons, he had received a powerful uppercut that sent him flying into the opposite sign-post; nearly hitting the _other _farmer-ninja.

"Hey!" the other one said, jumping into the air, aiming a kunai-knife at Kakashi, but this time, it was Sasuke's turn to take action. Standing on his hands, Sasuke delivered a spinning kick that set the other one flying after his team-mate.

"Hmph!" Naruto said. "Why didn't you leave one for me to hit?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "So what do we do with them?" he asked, nodding in the direction of their fallen enemies. "We can't leave them there or else someone will see them and suspect us."

"Hmm," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "You _do _have a point, but where do we hide them?" Sasuke shrugged, staring out into the open farmland.

"It's at times like this that I really start missing Sakura," Naruto said with a sigh. "Usually about now, she would have an answer." The other two paused, Sasuke staring at the ground.

Deciding not to leave this awkward moment hanging, Kakashi said, "I guess the best we can do is leave them here, but that means that we'll have to make it fast, ok? Or do you have any other ideas?"

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances and then looked back up at Kakashi. "I can't think of anything better," Sasuke said glumly.

"I'm sure that I could… but not at the moment," Naruto said, scratching his head. So with that, the three of them ran past the sign and the two farmers who were sprawled on the ground. By leaving them there, Squad 7 was putting themselves in danger; now they had no choice but to retrieve Sakura and the scroll before the guards had a shift-change.

Just ahead there was a small village; the dirt road breaking up and going in different directions. The village was very small and would probably have very little communication with outside villages. In all directions, all they could see were fields and a couple of farms. Yep, this was one of those places that were "out in the middle of nowhere".

All of the buildings and homes were very small with large backyards. The most crowded place was the heart of the village, which also consisted of the tallest buildings in the whole city (there were few though).

"So what do we do now?" Sasuke asked. "Should we split up?"

"I don't think so," Kakashi answered. "We know that one of the objects we're after is in the prison… but I have no idea where Sakura is. For now, we should move as a unit." Naruto and Sasuke followed Kakashi down the path to their left, towards the center of the town.

There were very few people walking around, and the very few who were, were walking alone. This made it seem strange for Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke. They passed the occasional farmer or house-wife, earning themselves suspicious glances.

"Man, am I hungry," Naruto said, clutching his stomach. "Can we _please _get something to eat before we do any more fighting?" he asked.

"If we _can _find a place to eat, then fine. But take the food with you. We haven't much time," Kakashi replied. Sasuke only shrugged.

After five minutes or so, they arrived at a small market-place. Naruto had to shove his way through in order to get just enough for one meal. After paying (and trying to act as casual as possible), they set off again towards the biggest building in the entire village; the prison. "Mm," Naruto said, eating the food he had bought. "Want any Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke shook his head but Kakashi eagerly accepted.

"Hey you!" called a voice from behind them. Kakashi and the others spun around quickly. "You guy's are ninja right? Let's see your headbands."

Their eyes widened. That would totally blow their cover. As quick as a flash, Kakashi made a few hand-signs and cast a Genjutsu (mind-trickery or illusion), making their headbands resemble those of the Rice Village. They lifted up their straw hats. "Ok," the other ninja said, clearly falling for Kakashi's trick. "Well, I was told to spread the word that there are intruders somewhere in the village. They knocked out the head guards, you see. Keep your eyes open and if you find anything out of order, inform the boss immediately."

"I… I'll be looking," Kakashi said.

After the other farmer-ninja was out of ear-shot, Naruto said, "They found us out already? That was fast!"

"I know," Kakashi answered in an undertone. "Try not to blow your cover until we have Sakura and the scroll."

"I already know that! Believe it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go," Kakashi said, running ahead down the road with Naruto on his trail. They were nearly at the entrance of the prison when Naruto stopped abruptly, spinning around.

"Where's Sasuke?"

* * *

After the farmer ninja was out of ear-shot, Naruto said, "They found us out already? That was fast!"

"I know," Kakashi answered in an undertone, he and Naruto not hearing the gentle _swish _and _thunk_. Sasuke barely had time to hear it himself before white lights began to form before his eyes. At the last second before his mind turned blank, he felt an incredible pain in the small of his back. He looked at his back and could have sworn that he could see the handle of a kunai-knife...

He fell to the ground.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, I didn't even notice him leave!" Naruto cried as the two of them retraced their steps back towards the market. "Where did he go?!" Kakashi said nothing, but he appeared very worried.

"Hold on," Kakashi said, stopping. He made a few more hand-signs, and in a small cloud of smoke above Naruto's head, a little, brown dog appeared.

"You summoned me?" it asked with a gruff voice.

"Hey! Get off my head!" Naruto yelled, shaking. The dog jumped down with ease.

"Pakkun," said Kakashi sternly, "I want you to sniff out Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto watched as the dog lifted his nose into the air to sniff, its head bobbing with each intake of air.

It started walking a little to the right, then it paused. "His scent is right here," it said, staring at something on the ground.

"How can he be-?" Naruto began, but he paused when his wandering eyes made contact with what was at Pakkun's feet. Kakashi looked over Naruto's shoulder and he froze. A moment of silence passed.

"Thank-you Pakkun. That will do," Kakashi said. Pakkun nodded and disappeared. "I think we should head to the prison." Wordlessly, Kakashi and Naruto ran back to where they had previously been.

They ran onwards, leaving Sasuke's splattered blood on the dirt path.

Squad 7 was down to two people.

The number of Missions they now had was piling up.

**Ha Ha! A cliff-hanger! (At least, I think it is). I'm going to update another chapter soon…because I hate suspense! I hope to hear lots and lots of opinions of how it is so far. Do you think it's getting too serious? Well if you do, I've got good news: it's going to get funnier (but not much until after the mission)! **

**Oh yes (I seriously need opinions for this), should I slowly start to wrap the story up after this mission, or should I add some other sort of twist or new mission into the story? (It's just I want to finish the story before I get sick of it). Review!**


	8. Heroes and Hostages

**I'm back with another chapter already! (Boy am I in a good mood!) Here it is; Chapter 8:**

**Chapter 8: Heroes and Hostages**

Before he opened his eyes, he could feel that his hands were bound together over his head. His arms were incredibly stiff and his back was aching more than it ever had before. His eyelids quivered before they opened.

His surroundings were dank and grey. He was leaning against a dark, stone wall; his hands held together by thick, black, metal handcuffs. He wasn't suspended in the air, so his arms didn't have too much strain, but they were still aching from being held up. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see surrounding stone walls, but before him, there was a row of black, vertical poles. This gave away that he was in the cell of a prison.

Sasuke looked down at himself and noted that his overalls must have been taken off along with his straw hat, so that now his Leaf Village headband was visible. He was wearing his traditional outfit, which he had been wearing under his overalls. He could tell that the kunai-knife had been removed from his back, but he could also feel tight bandages wrapped around his middle under his shirt.

It was then that he realized just how hungry he was.

He scanned the cell from left to right. There was nothing edible in sight. He then felt a particularly painful throb in his back. He let out a groan. Right after this, he could sense something stir on his right.

He whipped his head around for this source of movement, but his back started to hurt even more, forcing his to close his eyes again. His stomach and arms were also causing his distress. Out of desperation, Sasuke yanked and pulled, trying to free his hands, but all he gained was a couple of pulled muscles in his arms. He opened his eyes again, sweat-drops rolling down his forehead, gritting his teeth… but his expression quickly changed when he realized that he was staring at emerald orbs.

"Sakura?" he said between pants and gasps.

"Oh Sasuke!" she said, tears welling up in her eyes (in that girly way he hated). She seemed to be restraining herself from diving on him. "I'm glad to see you're awake!"

"Where did you come from?" he asked. The words came out a little more rudely that he had intended.

"I was here the whole time!" she said. "They dragged me into here after… they came up with a plan." She gulped. As Sasuke studied her more, he noticed that she had a very large bruise on the left side of her forehead.

"Go on," Sasuke said (again, he was shocked by how cold he was sounding). But Sakura didn't even flinch. She was used to his cold manner.

Sakura sat down. Her hair was matted, her dress was torn, and he could tell that she had quite the story to share. "Well, these farmers attacked me when I was waiting for you and Naruto to come back. I killed one of them, but another one clubbed m-me in the side of the head." She pointed to the large bruise.

"When I woke up, I was in a big room with a lot of farmers. I was tied up so I couldn't do anything, but then I was brought before their leader."

"Was it Oroachimaru?" Sasuke asked.

"No it wasn't, actually. They _did_ mention him, but I'm not there in the story yet. Well, then he started speaking to me, and here's the surprising part: He said he had been looking for me for a long time! Isn't that weird? He says he wants me to open a purple scroll-,"

"The scroll we're supposed to steal?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Yeah, that's the one. So of course I said no because we're never supposed to open scrolls when we're on missions. It was shortly after that, when they locked me in here.

"A few hours later, someone came in here and tied you up, muttering something about an intruder and Oroachimaru. Of course I bandaged up your wound right away, but then their leader came here. You guys gave away your positions, didn't you? That's why you got caught, right?" she added hastily. Sasuke scowled. She paused and took a shuddering breath.

"Continue Sakura!" Sasuke demanded.

"And… h-he said that e-either I open the scroll, which would probably lead to some sort of disaster, o-or…," she said, covering her face with her hands.

"Or what?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"Or they'll kill you."

That shut him up.

"I haven't given them an answer, so I guess I don't really have a choice but to open the scroll now… but it s-seems that our only hope is that Naruto and Kakashi come and save us."

Sasuke knew right then and there that they were screwed. If his life was in the hands of Naruto, he was as good as dead.

* * *

Now at the entrance of the prison, still in their farmer's outfits, Naruto and Kakashi were sneaking forwards. "Sensei, what will we say if we get caught?" Naruto asked; his usually obnoxious voice toned down to nothing more than a whisper.

Without even bothering to face him, Kakashi said, "We'll use a little technique called _improvisation_."

"Oh! Great idea, sensei! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, a little too loudly. Kakashi raised a finger to his own lips to signal Naruto to keep his voice down. They ran for a few more seconds in silence before Naruto said, "By the way, what is improvisation, anyways?"

Kakashi sweat-dropped. Out of all three of his students, _why _did he have to be stuck with the densest, loudest and clumsiest one? "It means making it up on the spot," Kakashi said, trying his hardest not to sound angry.

"I knew that! I was only kidding! Believe i-," but Naruto was hushed when Kakashi placed a hand over his mouth.

"I told you to keep quiet!" Kakashi said sternly. "Was that too much to ask?!"

They were standing behind a bush near the front doors of the prison; beyond it waited the purple scroll. "Alright, listen up, Naruto: If we meet any guards, let me handle them. I'll take them out silently, and then we'll have to find a place to hide them. Stay close behind me and keep your eyes pealed for a purple scroll."

Without giving Naruto any time to retort, Kakashi ran out from behind the bushes, Naruto on his tail. Through the front door (which Naruto's shadow-clones forced open) they weren't very surprised to find several guards waiting on the other side.

"It'll all be over in a second. Wait here for me, Naruto," Kakashi ordered as he made his way towards the farmer-ninja. But of course, being the restless person he was, Naruto couldn't help but join in the fun by using a couple of clones to knock out a few of the enemies. Kakashi took out the rest of them by using "A Thousand Years of Death" (a swift poke in the butt). Their enemies now lay in a heap.

Naruto took care of business by shoving them into a nearby broom-closet.

"Ok, sensei! Where to next?" Naruto asked as his clones disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"I'm not too sure," Kakashi replied, "but I have a feeling that it'll be somewhere with a lot of protection. We'll probably have more guards to take out."

"I think you're right. Believe it."

* * *

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke said, blowing a beam of fire at chain attached to his hand-cuffs. He continued blowing, and wriggling his arms as he attempted to melt the metal.

"Don't push yourself," Sakura said glumly from the corner of the cell as Sasuke's face started to turn red.

Sasuke decided that it would be best to give up. He let himself drop, putting more strain on his arms. He groaned again. "S-Sakura," he said through gritted teeth. "Do you have any weapons?"

Sakura stood up and walked over to him. "No. When they captured me, they emptied my weapons holster. You don't have any weapons either." Sasuke cursed as Sakura crouched down next to him. "Don't worry. We'll get out of this one way or another."

Not feeling very reassured, Sasuke turned away with a frown. Sakura continued. "I won't let anyone hurt you, and I'm sure that Naruto and Kakashi-sensei will be here in no time."

Sasuke snorted. "Unless they already got captured, that is. In the end, we'll probably both end up getting killed, or maybe we'll die of starvation," he said, teasing her. Sakura had to resist the urge to hit him for ruining the happy moment, but then she remembered that it wasn't Naruto who she was dealing with.

**The end of another chappie! Not quite as cliffie-ish as last time, but it's still kinda suspenseful. I wanted to write that chapter really fast because I hate suspense too! I want to get lotsa reviews so I know what people think of this story! (maybe suggestions too…). I'll accept criticism or whatever you've got in store as long as I know what ya think! (Thanks a bunch for reading by the way! You're the best!) **


	9. The Secret of the Scroll

**Next chapter coming right up! (Oh yeah…I just realized that I've been forgetting to put up the whole "Declaimer" thing at the beginning of each chapter. I put it at the beginning of the first chapter, but am I supposed to put it at the beginning of every chapter?) **

**Well, just in case:**

**DECLAIMER: I do not own any of the Naruto characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**So, some people told me that my last couple chapters were confusing in each change of scene (thanks by the way!). I understand why now. On Microsoft Word, I had divided up the scenes but for some reason, once I transferred it to the dividers were gone. Any-who, I edited that recently, but if something else is confusing, please tell me! I don't mind!**

**On with the story!!**

**Chapter 9: The Secret of the Scroll**

As they had intended, Kakashi and Naruto met several new enemies patrolling the jail cells. To buy them some time, Kakashi summoned a few of his ninja-dogs to cause a distraction; Naruto doing the same with his clones. They dashed down random hallways, each one darkening with every passing second.

"Kakashi-sensei, why would the enemies hide a scroll in their prison?" Naruto asked curiously.

As he ran, Kakashi gave his reasoning. "Well, seeing as this village has a pretty high criminal rate, and seeing as their prison is their largest and most highly-protected building, they probably found this to be the most efficient place to hide it. I'm guessing that it's also fool-proof and impossible to escape from once caught."

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle. "Heh, heh… well we'd better make sure that we don't get caught then, right?"

Kakashi rolled his eye. "Right Naruto. You've got the idea."

They ran onwards through the blackness, their eyes slowly adjusting. "Where on earth would they be keeping it, though?!" Kakashi grumbled out of frustration, peering in each stall. All he found was either the scrawny silhouette of a prisoner, or emptiness.

"How about in there?" Naruto said, skidding to a halt on the stone floor. Kakashi followed Naruto's finger up to a sign at the head of a huge oak door.

'The Scroll Room.'

"Well, well," Kakashi said, approaching the door. "Although I worry about your intellect-lack Naruto, you never cease to amaze me."

* * *

Feeling totally down-in-the-dumps, Sakura was leaning against the wall of her the jail cell. Her energy was draining as her hunger increased. On top of that, Sasuke's continuous complaints didn't help her mood. His anger was boiling dangerously, so she decided that it would be best not to talk to him.

Her stomach gave a pleading growl, rumbling through its emptiness. She put her hands over it. "Oh man," Sakura groaned. "I'd even eat my fingers if I had somewhere to cook them."

"You friggin' cannibal!" Sasuke said, no longer able to control his anger. He was still tugging at the handcuffs, but in result, his arms were growing limp. Forgetting about being angry Sasuke muttered, "I can't even focus chakra to my hands! There must be some sort of chakra-repelling material in these things! If I were able to use chidori I'd break out of here…"

But then he paused.

Concerned, Sakura looked up at him. "What is it, Sasuke?" she asked.

He looked up at her too, but she almost screamed at the horrifying look in his eyes. They were dark, beady orbs that seemed mildly unfocused. His whole body was trembling and he almost looked totally insane. "Come here, Sakura."

She squeaked and stood up, but backed into the wall behind her.

"What is it?" she repeated, also trembling.

"You're smart, aren't you?" Sasuke asked slowly and frighteningly.

"Well, I know how to study, but I don't think-,"

"And you'll do everything that I tell you-?" Sasuke asked, acting more and more un-Sasuke-ish with every moment.

"O-of c-c-course I w-will," she stuttered.

"Perfect," he said simply. "Come here _now_, Sakura." He was barely aware of what he was saying, but the brilliance of his plan was too tempting to push aside. Sakura took a couple of hesitant steps forwards, but kept her distance.

"Ok," he began, "listen carefully, because you've only got one shot at this, seeing as you don't have very much stamina."

"Yes, b-but… what exactly am I supposed to be doing?" she asked.

He exhaled through his nose, and smiled. "I'm going to teach you the chidori."

"WHAT?!" she yelled. Sasuke ignored her pleas and excuses for not being strong enough or fit enough, and got to work.

* * *

The door to 'The Scroll Room' was locked. "I'll chidori through it," Kakashi said. "Stand back, Naruto."

"No way!" Naruto yelled. "I want to rasengan through it!"

"It'll be a waste of time," Kakashi muttered, focusing chakra to his hand. The sound of high-pitched birds echoed through the hallway. The chidori resembled light-blue lightening being held in the palm of Kakashi's hand like a miniature storm. "Lightening blade!" Kakashi said before he eased his hand through the door as if it were some sort of liquid.

It left a gaping hole that was just big enough for someone to squeeze through. "Humph!" Naruto said with a pout. "Rasengan would have worked much better!"

"You'll have your chance," Kakashi said with a sigh before squeezing in through the new gap in the door with Naruto close behind him.

The room was very small; no larger than a broom-cupboard; but it was incredibly high with at least fifty shelves of scrolls. There were three ladders. "Unless someone forgot to put the scroll away after it was last read, then it's got to be in here," Kakashi said, climbing up one of the ladders. "Look for a purple one," he added.

"I know that! Believe it!" Naruto cheered, diving onto the ladder, nearly knocking a few of the scrolls off of the shelf in the process. Kakashi shook his head and they began the search.

Ten Minutes Pass

After what felt like ages to this restless, blonde ninja, he finally spotted something standing out through the usual beige scrolls.

"Kakashi-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! I found it! I FOUND IT!" he cried with triumph, flailing his arms around in the air. It was then that he remembered that he had been using his arms to hold onto the ladder. "Uh-oh," he said, before he began a twenty-foot decent down to the stone floor.

"Naruto! Break your fall by using your chakra!" Kakashi called after him.

CRASH!

"-or not," Kakashi said, covering his eye with his hand. "Where was the scroll, Naruto?"

"Uh…somewhere over there," he said from somewhere in his tangled mess on the floor. "I can't remember."

"Shoot!" Kakashi said.

Five Minutes Pass

"Kakashi-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! I found it again! I FOUND IT AGAIN!" Naruto cried with triumph, flailing his arms around in the air. It was then that he realized that he had been using his arms to hold into the ladder. "Uh-oh. No again," Naruto said, preparing himself for yet another drop to the floor, but then he felt something grab the back of his collar.

"I thought you'd learn from your mistake," Kakashi said with a sigh. "I guess I was wrong." Naruto gave his sensei a sheepish grin before Kakashi pulled him back up onto the ladder. "So this is it, huh?" Kakashi said.

"Yeah! That purple one right there! The one that's called…called-," Naruto said, squinting his eyes in order to read the label beneath the scroll.

"What's it called?"

Naruto stopped squinting and instead, his eyes widened. "Kakashi-sensei!"

"What is it now?" Kakashi asked from below him on the ladder.

"It's called… The Haruno Scroll!" Kakashi's jaw dropped. "Haruno... Haruno… I swear that I've heard that name before!" Naruto said, scratching his head.

"That's," Kakashi said, "Sakura's name!"

**There's the end of another chapter! Sorry that I updated a little slower than last time. So how do you like it so far? Well, the rest of the story should be three or four chapters long… unless you have ideas for some sort of bonus chapter… But just so you know, there **_**will **_**an epilogue. I won't know what you think unless you review! (please!)**


	10. The Ultimate Escape

**Here's the next chapter! (By the way, if you still have any confusion, tell me!)**

**Notice that I'm updating super-fast (because I hate, and I repeat: HATE suspense!!)!!!**

**Chapter 10: The Ultimate Escape**

"Sakura's name?" Naruto asked, still scratching his head. "Oh yeah! Now I remember! _Sakura Haruno_! Ha, ha! I am _such _a genius!" Naruto said, punching the air and falling off of the ladder again. This time, Kakashi didn't bother wasting his strength on saving Naruto.

Kakashi reached forwards to grab the scroll. Once he had it in a firm grip, he jumped down gracefully next to Naruto. The Haruno scroll? Since when was there such thing as a Haruno Scroll? Why was it so important? It was very tempting to open something that probably held so many secrets…

"Haruno Scroll, huh?" Naruto asked and snatching it out of Kakashi's hands. "I wonder what it says-..." Before Kakashi had the time to realize what Naruto was doing, he was already motioning to open it.

"Naruto! What do you-," he started, but it was too late. Naruto had already grabbed the rim of the scroll, and as if he had touched an electric wire, electricity shot through him, causing his hair to stand on an end. He yelled in pain before collapsing onto the ground.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled, shoving the purple scroll into his weapons pouch and grabbing his student by the shoulders and giving him a gentle shake.

"I heard something in 'The Scroll Room'! Someone must have got in!" called a voice from down the hallway. Kakashi's head jerked upwards as the sound of many people running began to grow louder. It was the farmer-ninja.

"They're coming…," Kakashi said to himself quietly before throwing Naruto over his shoulder and running down the hallway.

* * *

"-and don't let any of the chakra escape. You're pretty good at chakra-control, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. It'll be really forceful, so hold your arm steady. I'm not expecting you to nail it on your first try, but if you can at least get a little bit of energy, then you'll probably be able to break through these chains. Remember: You're turning your hand into a destructive weapon… so be careful with your aim. You could take off my head," Sasuke said, drawing breath from all of his rambling.

"So let me get this straight," Sakura said, "I'm going to be wasting all of my chakra on _you_?"

Sasuke frowned. "Even if you drain out all of your energy, _I'll_ make sure that we get out of here," he said, trying not to growl.

She spit her tongue out at him playfully. "I was only kidding! So where do I focus my chakra again?" she asked, holding her arm out in front of her.

"Focus your chakra to the palm of your hand. It's just like the tree-climbing exercise, but you have to focus _all _of your chakra to it," Sasuke replied.

"O-ok… so here we go," Sakura said, closing her eyes for a moment before moving towards Sasuke. She paused. "What if it doesn't work?" she asked suddenly.

"Oh shut up! We won't know if it will work or not until you try! Do you have _any _confidence?!" Sasuke asked with frustration.

Sakura sighed. In truth, she hardly had any self-confidence at all. "Alright, I'll try," she said meekly, outstretching her arm once again.

She closed her eyes again, and with all of her might, she felt that one spot in her palm and gathered every ounce of chakra she had in her body to her hand. She felt it creeping beneath her skin, tingling and her ears listened for the sound of chirping birds… but nothing came.

"I can't," she said, tears reaching her eyes. "I hardly have any energy right now, and I can't do it."

"Oh," Sasuke said, his eyes softening. For a fleeting moment, she almost thought that he was going to give her words of praise, but instead he said, "I guess I overestimated you. I nearly forgot how different you were from the rest of us."

His words pierced her like daggers.

Different? _Different?! _Did he mean weak? Annoying? Useless? Clearly Sasuke had no idea how effective his words could be, because Sakura felt fury burning inside of her as smoke started to shoot out of her ears. More and more tears were waiting to fall, but she held them back.

"I'm sorry for being so _different_," Sakura said coldly, Sasuke's eyes widening. "But I'm not going to give up! I'm going for it again!" She kept her eyes opened this time, focusing every part of her into her hand.

"Sakura stop! You might die if you try it again!" Sasuke yelled, but he froze when he heard something that sounded like crackling electricity… like birds chirping.

"Here we go!" Sakura cried, tears finally rolling down her face. "I'll do my best for you! Chidori!" she yelled as she thrust her dangerous, heavy arm forwards towards the small chain in between Sasuke's hand-cuffs.

With the sound of cracking metal, Sasuke's handcuffs went flying off with the force of Sakura's chidori. He brought his arms down immediately to soothe their aching, but then Sakura fell on him from all of the energy she had lost.

"I-I did it, d-d-didn't I?" she said quietly, as her inner-self was cheering louder than ever before.

Sasuke removed her from him and placed her on the ground before he stood up. "Yeah you did," he said with a fond smirk. "You showed me." Of course, he didn't actually _mean _to say it that way (or at least, he convinced himself that he didn't to mean to say it that way), but he didn't want her to start crying again.

But Sakura cried anyways, much to his dismay.

"Now as promised, I'll get us out of here," he said standing up and focusing chakra to his own hand. He burst through the cell bars with more power than Sakura could ever dream of having, but he was way out of her league to begin with.

* * *

Kakashi was running for his life.

With Naruto over his shoulder and at least fifty guards behind him, Kakashi was running pell-mell down the hallway without a clue whether this lead to an exit. With the Haruno Scroll tucked safely in his shuriken pouch along with his "Make-Out Paradise" book, Kakashi felt ready for anything… or at least, he thought he was.

"You can put me down now, sensei!" Naruto yelled, nearly scaring the living daylights out of Kakashi. Luckily Kakashi didn't trip, but Naruto's sudden awakening had lost him quite a bit of time.

"I didn't know you were awake!" Kakashi exclaimed, putting Naruto down. "Now run!" Not wasting another second, the two of them sprinted down the hallway towards whatever waited for them through the darkness ahead.

"We've got to stop them!" yelled one of the farmer-ninja behind them. "Throw your weapons on the count of three!"

"This is bad!" Kakashi thought, grabbing Naruto's arm.

"ONE-,"

Kakashi spotted an open jail cell.

"TWO-,"

As quick as a flash, Kakashi dived in, still holding Naruto's arm.

"THREE!"

Kunai-knives and shuriken flew past and missed them by only a few inches. "We've got to keep moving!" Kakashi said, springing to his feet, but then he paused at the sight before him.

"I can't believe it," Naruto said quietly, taking a step forwards.

"Well that's pretty funny," said a voice. "This must be the first thing that you don't believe."

"SAKURA!" Naruto cried as he dove forwards to give her a hug (which turned into a strangle).

"Let her breathe," growled another familiar voice.

"SASUKE!" Naruto cried as he dove forwards with his arms again outstretched… but then he reconsidered and stopped in mid-air.

"Sorry to break it up," Kakashi said quickly, "but we're about to be ambushed. Can we _please _get going now?"

"But what about the scroll?!" Sakura asked immediately.

"We've already got it! Come on!" Kakashi said, grabbing Naruto's wrist, who grabbed Sakura's wrist, who grabbed Sasuke's wrist, who groaned.

With the enemies on their heals, they dashed forwards. "There's an exit up ahead!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Perfect! Let's g-," Kakashi began, but stopped abruptly when something very large landed a couple of feet in front of them, causing the floor to shake and squad 7 to nearly crash into it. After stopping to observe it, they found that it was a very large boulder.

"We've got those brats trapped now!" one of the farmer ninja said with an evil laugh.

"Yeah, they've caused quite a ruckus here too. I heard that the boss was going to come personally," said another.

Squad 7 was in a pickle.

**CLIFFIE CLIFFIE CLIFFIE!! Boy am I mean! I'll update as soon as I can! Oh yeah, just so you know, they should be back in Konoha mid-way through the next chapter. Just thought I'd say. Tell me what you think! **


	11. The Mission's End

**I'm back with another chappie!!! Bwa ha ha! Mwa ha ha! Bwa Mwa Bwa Mwa Bwa ha ha! Ok, enough with the evil laughter (sorry, I'm just excited to write!!). Oh yes; THANKS A BUNCH FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! I APPRICIATE THEM SOOOO MUCH!! **

**Alright, take a deep breath, and here we go! (Oh yeah, I just realized that I was wrong; they probably won't be back in Konoha until next chapter! Sorry!)**

**Chapter 11: The Mission's End**

"The boss?" Naruto gasped. "You mean Orochimaru?"

"No Naruto," Sakura said, "I've already met him. It's-," but Sakura was unable to finish because a new farmer pushed through the crowd.

"So here they are, huh? Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake? Perfect," the new farmer said. His straw hat was tilted downwards so that his face was hidden by shadows.

"Hold on one second!" Naruto yelled, waving an accusing finger in this person's face. "How do you know our names? And you're voice sounds familiar! Have you ever been in Konoha before?"

The farmer raised his head slightly so that Squad 7 was able to see his mouth, which was now curved into a smile. "I just might have," he said in a drawling voice.

It was then that Kakashi came to his senses. "It's you again, huh?" Kakashi asked, crinkling his nose in disgust. "What are you doing all the way out here? The last time I saw you, you were disguised as an ANBU."

"ANBU-?" Sakura started, lost in thought.

"From the Chunin Exams?" Sasuke asked. The farmer's smile broadened.

"ANBU… Chunin…," Naruto mumbled. No one could tell whether Naruto was onto something, or if he was just repeating words that he recognized. "Oh! Don't tell me that you're… you're," he drew a breath, "Kabuto!"

Proving him right, the farmer threw off his hat, revealing Kabuto's smirking face. He had grey hair that was tied back into a ponytail. "Very good," he said.

"Yes! Yes, I remember! You're the one who was fighting against Tsunade! You're Orochimaru's henchman!" Naruto exclaimed, positively amazed at how smart he was sounding.

"What, are you a part-time farmer or something?" Sasuke asked. "Why are you out here?"

"I own this country," he said, "Orochimaru gave me permission to create this place. It was also a perfect way to lure you all in." Squad 7 stiffened. "Enough about me. Now, back to what I was originally here for. Hand over The Haruno Scroll and the girl."

"Haruno Scroll?" Sasuke repeated, turning to Sakura. "You never told me-,"

"I-I had no idea," Sakura said. "I've never even heard of such a thing. Is that the purple one?"

Naruto turned to both of them, "Yeah. Kakashi-sensei and I were meaning to ask you about it. Are you sure that you've never heard-?"

"Enough chat!" Kabuto barked. "Hand over the scroll and that girl _NOW_, or else I'll kill the Uchiha!"

Naruto fumed, and Sasuke stood in front of Sakura with his arms outstretched in a protective manner. "Kill me then," Sasuke snarled, "or at least, I'd like to see you try it." He positioned himself into a fighting-stance (a pose he had once copied from Rock Lee), and waited for Kabuto to make his move.

"Oh shut up, Mr. I'm-So-Noble," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "Let's take them all down now and get the heck out of here."

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Kakashi said, snapping his orange book closed and returning it to his weapons pouch. "And just in case you haven't noticed, we're greatly outnumbered. So Naruto, I'll let you do the honours-,"

"I'm already on it, sensei!" he said, making a hand-sign. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto cried, and in puffs of smoke, hundreds of Naruto's filled the hallway. Kakashi summoned a few of his dogs to help out too.

Within seconds, the battle had begun.

"Nar-u-to Uzumaki Barrage!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Earth Style: Fang Pursuit Jutsu!"

"Woo-Hoo! Go Naruto! Go Sasuke! Go Kakashi-sensei! You rock!" Sakura egged on from the back.

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto called over his shoulder. "Why don't you try to find a way to escape while you're waiting?" He tossed her a kunai-knife.

"Alright," she said, turning her back on the battle.

So far, the odds were looking good for Squad 7. The farmer-ninja had decreased in numbers rapidly in only a matter of minutes, and Kabuto only had a couple left at his side. Naturally, and because they made such a great team, Squad 7 had seemed to make some sort of battle-formation. Naruto was in the front, charging through the enemies to get to Kabuto, Kakashi was close behind him and watching his back, Sasuke was even further back, taking out anyone who slipped passed the other two, and lastly, Sakura was standing by the boulder and trying to find a way passed it.

Finally, Kakashi had taken out the last farmer-ninja. "Can I use rasengan _now_, sensei?" Naruto pleaded.

"When you get a chance," Kakashi said, "But I honestly doubt that we'll be able to take him out so easily."

_SMASH!_

They all spun around to the source of the sound, and were quite surprised to see Sakura standing there with her hand against the now-destroyed boulder. Kakashi observed the damage, and his eyes widened. "This inflicted damage… could only have been caused by a chidori…"

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, his Sharingan eyes diminishing as he bounded over to her. "I told you not to use it again until you stored up more chakra! You could have died! That's three times in one day!" _But, _he thought, _she still standing and she's already passed my own limit._

She looked totally worn out and ready to collapse at any moment. "I know," she said, forcing a smile, "but I still did it, didn't I?" Sasuke looked like he was ready to blow up, but before he could scold her, Naruto piped up.

"You taught her the chidori?" Naruto asked, his eyes widening.

Sasuke blinked before frowning. "Maybe I did."

"Really?" Kakashi said in awe. He had known that Sakura had fairly good chakra control, but now this-?

"Rrgh! Thanks a lot, Sasuke! Now I'm the only one on the team who _doesn't _know it!" Naruto cried. Sasuke shrugged, Kakashi was still staring at the remains of the boulder, and Sakura was at the verge of passing out.

"A-hem! In case you all haven't noticed, _I'm still here!_"

"Oh yeah, Kabuto. Sorry," Naruto said, turning back to him.

"You know what?" Kakashi said abruptly, before Naruto could make a move. "I think we should get out of here as soon as we can." He reached into his weapons pouch, and for a moment, the other's almost thought that he was going to pull out his orange book, but instead, his hand appeared again holding a fistful of letter-bombs.

"Kakashi-sensei, you don't mean that-," Naruto began, but Kakashi had already nodded.

"Yeah I do," he said. "Sakura, get out of the village immediately. Sasuke and Naruto, I want you to cover for me."

"Ok, sensei," Sakura said, grabbing Sasuke's arm to pull herself to her feet. She stumbled past the demolished boulder and out of sight.

"Alright, you two," Kakashi whispered, "I want you to make sure that Kabuto doesn't try to attack me while I'm setting up the bombs, got it?" They nodded curtly and got to work.

As expected, Kabuto's first strike was aimed at Kakashi, who was sticking letter-bombs all over the place, but was stopped by a swift kick to the gut from Sasuke. "You little brats," Kabuto growled, focusing chakra to his hands, but Naruto beet him to it.

All this time, Naruto had been focusing his chakra to his hand into a palm-sized ball that was spinning in all directions. "Rasengan!" he yelled as he shoved his hand at Kabuto's chest. Kabuto flew backwards a few metres and hit the floor with a sickening bang.

"Alright! I'm ready!" Kakashi called after he had placed the last bomb down.

"Move out of the way!" Sasuke called back. Naruto and Kakashi stood behind him. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" he yelled, breathing in, and blowing out an enormous amount of fire; like a dragon.

"Run!" Kakashi yelled, grabbing each of his students and making a dash for the exit behind them as the first bomb went off. He dove out of the building just as the entire thing exploded in a burst of flame.

They scrambled to their feet at the sight of more farmer-ninja and began their final run through the village towards the dirt road.

They collapsed in a heap once the village was a considerable distance away. "Whoa," Naruto said, his chest rising and falling with each breath, "I didn't think we were going to get out of that one alive."

"Yeah," Sasuke said, nodding. "I'm glad we all got out of-… Where's Sakura?"

He was greeted with silence.

"She ran out ahead of us," Kakashi said. "She should be around here somewhere."

"But wait!" Naruto said abruptly. "There were other farmer-ninja in the village! Could she have been-?" but his voice faltered. "Noooo!" he wailed, "Sakura can't be dead!" He sat up and his sobs started to echo through the trees. When realization hit, tears began to nestle in the corners of Sasuke's eyes, threatening to fall. Kakashi seemed surprised by their huge mistake.

"We'll have to go back," Kakashi said quietly, standing up. Sasuke was wiping his eyes on his sleeve, but Naruto didn't even bother; he had liquid dripping all over the place from his eyes _and_ nose.

"YOU GUYS!"

The three of them looked up.

"I didn't know where you were! You scared me half to death!" the voice called again. Before either of them were ready for it, someone had latched herself onto Sasuke.

"Sakura!" he gasped. "Where the heck were you?!"

"I was just over-," she started, but then Naruto had tackled the both of them into a spine-snapping hug. Kakashi even hesitantly joined in.

If they had learned anything from this mission, it was that they were never _ever _going to let their little cherry-blossom out of their sight again.

**All done the chappie! I was going to include this little happy ending to the mission in the next chapter, but I didn't want to leave another cliff-hanger again. So now there are officially two chapters left to write for this story (don't worry; they'll be nice and long). The next chapter will be the journey back and when they get to Konoha, and the last chapter will be an epilogue. I can't believe that it's coming to an end already! Oh well… and expect humour in the next two chapters!**

**Reviews will be HUGELY appreciated. (please!) Thanks so much for reading! I love you guys!**


	12. Journey Home

**It's not over yet! Even though the previous chapter had a pretty happy ending, there are still secrets to be revealed! Two more chapters to go!**

**Oh yeah, just in case you're interested, I'm going to advertise a couple of stories at the end of this chapter. (Stick around and see if one of them sparks your interest!) Sorry for the slower update; I just want to take my time because the story's nearly over! Wah!**

**Chapter 12: Journey Home.**

The sky took on a pinkie-orange complexion as the sun began to set. The surrounding trees and brush were obscured by golden sunbeams which were slowly dimming. The fields looked fluffy and each blade of grass was rocking back and forth in the gentle breeze. Where the sun wasn't shining, the sky was a brilliant blue, without a single cloud in sight.

Naruto scrunched up his face in concentration. "I think a storm's coming," he said seriously.

"You idiot!" Sakura yelled, giving him a bop on the head. "This doesn't look _anything _like a storm!" Sasuke didn't even bother to argue and Kakashi was silently reading.

As night-time approached, they searched for a place to camp in the forest. Luckily, they found the stream again so they had fish for dinner. This time, they decided to let Kakashi and Sasuke get the fish, and left Naruto to help Sakura look for more berries and firewood.

After dinner, they rolled out their sleeping bags and fell asleep in an instant. They desperately needed to replenish their chakra.

* * *

"Is he still asleep?" Sakura asked. 

"I don't know," Sasuke replied, backing away when he remembered what happened the last time he had removed Kakashi's orange book from his face.

"I say we kick him! Believe it!"

"No Naruto! He might think we're trying to attack him!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Just pick up the book!"

"No way! Sasuke should do it!"

"Not me. Sakura should do it."

"There's no way! Naruto should do it!"

Before either of them was ready for it, Kakashi sat up with a jerk, his book sliding off his face. "AHHH!" the three of them yelled. Kakashi grinned.

"Good-morning, you three. I see you're all up and ready! That's great!" As if nothing had happened, Kakashi stood up and walked away.

"Oh the nerve of that sensei!" Sakura fumed, still shaking. They left the clearing after a light breakfast and trudged along down the dirt path. Out of all of them, Sakura seemed to be the one having the most trouble; her chakra still hadn't been fully replenished after using so much of it.

Naruto took this as an opportunity to pull Sasuke aside. "So," he said, Sasuke raising an eyebrow. "The _other _mission's still on, right?"

"Of course," he replied. "Just make sure that we don't do anything violent this time."

"Excuse me! _You're _the one who came up with the 'ambushing-plan', Mr. Smarty-Pants! Don't worry, I already have an idea," Naruto said with a pout.

"Alright, what're you guys going to do?" Kakashi asked (who had been pretending to be reading his book).

"Ok," Naruto said, taking a deep breath after making sure that Sakura was out of ear-shot. "We've been out here for a long time, right?" Naruto asked. The other two nodded. "When I was looking for shampoo, I didn't find any bottles of hair dye either. So she hasn't been using it, right?" They nodded again. "So, if we look at the top of her head, there might be roots!" Sasuke and Kakashi looked at each other before turning back to Naruto.

"Wouldn't we have noticed them by now?" Kakashi asked.

"Not necessarily! They might be really small!" Naruto said.

"So what do we have to do then?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto paused. "Don't look at me! I have no clue!" he cried as silently as he could. Neither of the other two said anything either. "What about you, Sasuke? Sakura's always clinging to you! Did you ever notice any roots?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed; his face blazing with colour. "When she's 'clinging to me', Naruto, I'm usually not staring at the top of her head," he grumbled.

"Well, you can't just go up to her and yank her head to your eye-level," Kakashi said with a sigh.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly.

"Got what?" Sakura, who they had nearly forgotten was behind them, suddenly said.

"N-nothing," Naruto said, trying to make an excuse for his outburst.

"Sakura, why don't you come walk over here with me?" Kakashi suddenly said. "I need to properly explain to you how to use the chidori. No offence, but I'll probably be a much better teacher than Sasuke." Sasuke shot him a glare before turning back to Naruto.

"What?" he asked.

"Ok," Naruto said, "here's the plan: You're going to lure Sakura-,"

"No I'm not."

"Um, ok, you're going to walk with Sakura-,"

"No I'm not."

"Rrgh! I can't stand you sometimes! Ok, you _and _Kakashi-sensei are going to walk with Sakura-…" He paused to see if Sasuke would interrupt again. When nothing was said, he continued. "-and you're going to lure her to a tree that I'll be hiding in. Once you've got her distracted, I'll suspend myself down from the tree and try to see if she has any roots."

Sasuke sighed. "I can see a lot of fault in this plan."

"Humph! Can _you _think of anything better?" Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Whatever. Let's go," Sasuke said.

Naruto walked over to Kakashi and Sakura. "Hey guys!" he called. "I've just got to use the bathroom! I'll be back in a minute!"

"Yeesh, you didn't need to announce that, Naruto," Sakura scathed. Naruto disappeared through the trees as Sasuke made his way over to Sakura and Kakashi.

"So," Sasuke said (rather awkwardly). "Do you guys want to go for a walk in the forest?" It was just after he had asked it that Sasuke realized how un-Sasuke-like he was sounding.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "But Naruto's _doing _something in there."

"Er," Sasuke said, quickly thinking of a counter-attack. "We won't walk where Naruto is. Heck, let's go in the other direction! It doesn't really matter whether Naruto finds us afterwards or not either, right?"

Sakura still looked confused, so Kakashi muttered, "He's got a point."

"Ok! Ok, fine! Let's go in the forest!" she exclaimed, with a slightly-false smile. Sasuke led the way, trying his best to make it seem like they weren't going in Naruto's direction, but they really were. He tried to spot some sort of clue that Naruto was around…

Soon he heard a twig snapping. He groaned. Couldn't Naruto at least _try _to be smooth? "What was that?!" Sakura asked, spinning around, and reaching into her weapons holster. "Oh man! I forgot that I had my weapons taken from me in the prison! Someone's there! I swear!"

"I was just an animal," Sasuke said. "How about we go this way?" he asked, directing them towards a large tree.

"No! Someone-," but Kakashi grabbed her arms and dragged her over to the tree. The three of them stood there awkwardly.

"Why don't we sit down?" Sasuke asked.

"My, my! _Someone's _actually woken up on the _right _side of the bed today!" Kakashi said with a smile and a wink. Sasuke resisted the urge to puke, but he sat down all the same. "Well then," Kakashi began. "You both had your weapons taken away?"

"Yeah," Sakura said. "That's why Sasuke taught me the chidori; so I could free him from his chains."

"Hm," Kakashi said thoughtfully, "getting a lady to do the work, huh? That's terribly unlike you!" Sakura started laughing, but Sasuke's frown only deepened. Maybe this plan _hadn't_ been such a good idea.

It was then that he noticed something. Making it's incredibly slow decent from the tree, was a blonde head peeking out of the tree. Kakashi had noticed this too, so they decided to keep their pink-haired team-mate occupied.

"Yeah, it would be much easier to free Sasuke with weapons, but think of it as for the better! I mean, you've nearly mastered an incredibly difficult technique!"

Sakura didn't perk up. "Yeah, but as usual, I was such a burden to you guys. When we were battling Kabuto, I didn't have any weapons, I hadn't nearly _any _chakra left, and all I could do was-,"

"Free me," Sasuke said quickly.

"Kill that Rice ninja back in the clearing," Kakashi added.

"Smash trough that boulder so that we were able to escape without getting blown up by the bombs," said Sasuke.

"Stand up for what was right when you were taken before the boss of the Rice Village," said Kakashi.

"Yeah but-," Sakura began, but Sasuke interrupted her (when he noticed that Naruto was getting very close).

"You may not have been the hero, but you were-,"

_SNAP! _

"What the-," Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi said together, looking up. "Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as his blond-haired team-mate started to fall out of the tree.

"Narut-?" Sakura started, but was silenced when something rather heavy landed on her back. "Ahh!" she yelled before her face hit the ground.

"O-oopsie!" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head and trying to look as innocent as possible.

Kakashi and Sasuke put their heads in their hands, but Sakura was screaming her head off. "NARUTO! What were you doing in that tree?! That hurt you stupid, little-,"

The boys of Squad 7 thought that _this _mission would be a snap after the one in the Rice Village, but clearly they had overestimated themselves. This was indeed a much more difficult mission to accomplish.

**OPERATION 4: FAILED!**

* * *

Are you a** KAKASHI **fan? Well, my buddy ninja99k is writing her first fan-fic called "After Death". It's focusing on Kakashi former team (Kakashi, Rin, Obito…) It's about after Obito died and may include a little KakashiXRin. Her sixth chapter is now up.

* * *

Are you a **SASUSAKU **fan? Well, I wrote a one-shot (like a year ago; you can tell by the grammar mistakes). It's long and I mean it! It's so long that it had more words in it than all of the chapters in Mission Accomplished put together! My summary and title are a little cheesy sounding, but it actually isn't a bad story.

* * *

Are you a fan of **THE NARUTO CHARACTER'S IN HIGH-SCHOOL**? Try reading "Konoha Adventures" (written by me). The chapters are really long, so it takes longer to update… but once I'm done Mission Accomplished, I'll work on it more. Includes sasusaku, naruhina, nejiten and shikaino. 

**So what do you think? Anything spark your interest? (Sorry, I know I really do suck at advertising things). **

**Oh yeah! Please Review!**


	13. Tsunade's Little Mistake

**Hello again! I just want to thank you guys x100000 for your reviews! They're what keep me motivated to write! This next chapter will be one of the greater challenges to write because I'm slowly winding down to the end. For certain aspects of this chapter I've got to wing it and let my imagination run wild. You know what I learned from experience? It's usually easier to write when you don't have every little detail thought up because that only limits your creativity! **

**I want to thank everybody who's been staying with me until the very end, those who have been reading anonomously and I want to thank people who just randomly wanted to read it out of sheer boredom. I love you all!**

**This will kind of be a winding down chapter, so expect humour and perhaps a little fluffy-ness!**

**Chapter 13 (urg, how unlucky!): Tsunade's Little Mistake. **

They returned to the dirt path after _attempting _to pacify Sakura's furious spasms. They were nearing Konoha and would probably arrive sometime just before sundown. Kakashi was multi-tasking as usual; reading and walking, Sakura was talking quickly and furiously, Sasuke was trying not to listen to her, and Naruto was humming to himself.

The blonde knuckle-head was gazing out at the fields dreamily. "I can't wait to get back home," he said with a small sigh. Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi turned to him. "I can already taste the ramen that Iruka-sensei's going to treat me to… Oh yes, I'll also have to tell Konohamaru all about this mission. Boy will he be impressed. And Hinata too. She'll sure be proud of me, huh?" he asked, looking at the others.

"Hinata?" Sakura repeated with curiosity. "She's the shy girl with the monster crush on you, right? Neji's cousin?"

Naruto jumped back. "_Crush _on _me_?! What do you mean?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as she said, "Gee, how dense can you be? It's obvious!"

Naruto folded his arms over his chest and stared out at the fields once more. "You don't say…," he muttered to himself. Kakashi was smiling from beneath the mask.

They were getting nearer and nearer to the outskirts of the village, and in the distance, they could see the dirt path widening into a road. "We're about twenty minutes away," Kakashi said matter-of-factly. The others sighed with relief.

"What should we do to pass time?" Naruto asked, resting the back of his head in his hands.

"We could play a game," Sakura said, shrugging. "How about truth or dare?"

"That's a girl's game," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"No it's not! Here, Kakashi-sensei, you start! Pick a person and ask them a question," Sakura said.

"Alright," he said, closing his book. "Sakura, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she replied.

"Why is your hair pink?"

Everything was silent.

The four of them had stopped walking.

All eyes on Sakura.

"I can't tell you that," she said simply. "Sorry." She continued to walk; leaving the other's to stare at her retreating form.

"Wait! You're backing out?!" Naruto asked, snapping to his senses and running to keep up with her.

Her whole body was suddenly in shadow as fury began to radiate off of her. "_I SAID THAT I CAN'T TELL YOU THAT!_" she growled. Naruto winced and took a step backwards. "Oh yes. It's my turn. Naruto! Truth or dare?!" she snapped.

"D-Dare," he whimpered.

"Good," she said evilly. "I dare you to run as far into the forest as you can, find a stick and start hitting yourself over the head with it."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "What kind of a dare is that?!" he asked angrily.

"A good one," she said; her smile widening.

"Um," Kakashi said, "sorry for breaking it up… but maybe you should play something else."

They willingly ended the game before it turned violent and continued their journey home in silence. Sakura's anger-level was so high that the other three (even Sasuke) made sure that she had at least a metre of space in all directions. Konoha's front gates were rapidly approaching and Naruto's excitement was only growing. He began talking. Most of his words were incoherent though, so all they could comprehend was every fifth word or so. "- … -IRUKA- … -RAMEN- … -BATHROOM- … -HINATA- … -BUFFALO- … -DOOR-KNOB- …"

Kakashi spared him a worried glance and Sasuke rubbed his temples in annoyance. It was then that they heard a different noise.

_Sob._

Sob?

_Sob Sob._

Naruto stopped his rambling, and Sasuke and Kakashi looked up. Sakura was a little ways ahead with her back facing them. Her back was hunched and was jerking upwards every moment or two. She was crying? Why was she crying _this _time?

Sasuke immediately came to the conclusion that it was his fault. Sakura cried for him all the time, after all. But Naruto, on the other hand, assumed that it was his fault. He was always making her angry and perhaps this time he had gone too far-? On the contrary, Kakashi felt no self-pity and totally blamed it on Sasuke and Naruto (in his mind of course).

Feeling courageous, Naruto took a step forwards and placed a shaky hand on her back. "I'm sorry. It was me, wasn't it?" he asked with a frown.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and he too stepped forwards. He started patting Sakura's head as if she were some sort of animal (you can tell that he's not used to the whole "comforting-thing"…). "Shut up Naruto. It was my fault, right?" he asked.

Sakura quivered at the new attention she was getting, but she pushed through their consoling and started to run towards the village; her sobs growing more and more faint as she gained distance. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi looked up at her with surprise. Naruto started to scratch his head with confusion, but Sasuke clenched the fist which had previously been patting her head. He had finally decided to show her a little bit of affection (which sure hadn't been an easy decision), and this is what he gets in return? Kakashi looked just as confused as Naruto.

"Should we chase her?" Naruto asked.

"No," Kakashi answered, shaking his head. "We should wait for her to open up to us. I think she needs a bit of time to cool down. For now, let's go the Hokage Tower to report back from our mission."

They soon reached the village (Naruto dropping to his knees to kiss the ground). Sakura was still no where in sight. They walked down the main road towards the Hokage Tower, but nearly ran into someone. Being the feisty person he was, Naruto immediately blew up. "Hey! Watch where you're going you little-! Little… Hinata! How great it is to see you!" Naruto exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the terrified-looking girl.

Hinata Hyuuga had dark blackish-blue hair. She had a pale complexion and glowing silver-white eyes. She was a member of the main branch of the Hyuuga clan, which was currently one of the most highly respected clans in all of Konoha. Momentarily, Hinata's head was as red as a tomato. It was quite strange that Naruto was hugging her; normally he didn't even seem to notice her. Maybe he was taking heed of Sakura's previous words…

"It feels like it's been ages since I last saw-," Naruto began, but then he felt someone grab the back of his collar and lift him off the ground. "Sasuke!"

"Hn," Sasuke said. "Sorry for ruining the moment, but we have to go to the Hokage Tower _and then _we have to go find Sakura." Kakashi had already closed his book and was watching the whole scene like it was some sort of soap-opera.

"Do you want to come with us, Hinata?" Naruto asked, quite unaware that he was suspended in the air.

"S-Sorry, N-Naruto, but I-I have t-to go m-meet my team," she stuttered, staring at her feet. She pressed her index fingers together out of nervousness.

"Oh, that's ok. I can talk to you over ramen sometime, alright?" he said with a wink. Hinata nearly passed out and Kakashi was giving him a round of applause.

"Naruto," Sasuke groaned, dropping him to the ground, "if you don't shut up and get moving I'm going to have to give you a wedgie."

Naruto's facial expression was one of utmost horror. "Heh, heh, I'll race you there!" He said, sprinting off down the road like there was no tomorrow.

Sasuke and Kakashi started walking too. "Was that an empty threat or were you actually going to give him one?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "I'd say the latter, I thin- Where are you going?" he called after him as Kakashi too started to run. "Aw c'mon! I was only kidding! Wait for me!"

* * *

When Sasuke came bursting through the doors to the room in which they receive missions, he was awarded with a few more stares than he had been expecting. At the desk in the front, sat Tsunade, Iruka, Shizune (Tsunade's apprentice), and Kakashi's fellow Jonin teachers (Kureni, Asuma and Gai). In the center of the room were two chairs, Naruto sitting on one and Sakura on the other with Kakashi standing behind them.

Sasuke made a bee-line towards the two chairs, pushed Naruto off of one and sat next to Sakura. Naruto started yelling his head off, but Sakura didn't even look at him.

"So," said Tsunade, "you made it back. I'm glad. You have the scroll, I presume?"

Kakashi pulled it out of his weapons pouch but made no motion to hand it over. "_You _have a lot of explaining to do," Kakashi said sternly.

Tsunade sighed. "I know. I made a huge mistake. It was only twenty minutes after the three of you left that I realized I had been reading off of the A-Ranked Mission's list. I'm terribly sorry," she said bowing politely.

Naruto jumped towards her. "That was some accident! You nearly got us killed!" he yelled, pointing at her.

"What can I say? I had a hang-over! I wasn't feeling well! I'm sorry! You're all alive, so there's nothing left to be complaining about!" she retorted. Squad 7 didn't feel totally relieved.

"Sorry," Shizune said. "It was my day off. I should have been watching over her."

"It's alright. It was a new experience for all of us," Kakashi said with a sigh. He turned back to Tsunade. "Now tell us about this scroll, Tsunade. Haruno Scroll, huh? Why was it a mission in the first place? What is this scroll all about?"

Tsunade sighed, and eased back into her chair, propping her feet up on the table. She glanced at Sakura (who was covering her face with her hands; she was crying again), and then back at Kakashi. She began her explanation.

"This scroll holds the history of the Haruno clan, as you have probably already assumed. There is no need to open it, because I already know the whole story." She took a deep breath before continuing. Everyone in the room was giving her their undivided attention. "The Haruno's are an old clan, having existed a long, long time ago in some of the greatest ninja wars."

"Then why haven't we heard much of them?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm getting there," Tsunade said, giving him a glare in which Sasuke returned. "No, they weren't the most powerful clan, like the Uchiha's, but they were famous healer-ninjas who knew healing methods that were even beyond me that they would only share with other members of their families." Sakura made a stifled sob, but Tsunade ignored it. "In wars and at the darkest of times, the warriors always had someone to turn to; a Haruno. They were quite respected too, you know.

"Anyways, as years passed, the Haruno's became a symbol of hope and peace. Then one day, Sakura's great-great-great grandmother decided to cast a permanent jutsu that would go down through the generations to make her clan more distinguishable. And that was… pink hair."

"WHAT?!" Naruto cried, jumping a metre into the air.

"_That's _why your hair's pink?" Sasuke asked, grabbing her arm forcefully. But to his surprise, Sakura pulled away from him.

Kakashi's eyes widened. "How did you know all of this?" Kakashi asked.

"I learned all about the Haruno clan while I was training to be a healer-ninja. You know, Kabuto had been training with me, right? I had noticed that he had his eyes on the scroll since we first learned about it. The techniques inside were forbidden for us to learn, but just before Kabuto had betrayed us for Orochimaru, I caught him sneaking into the room in which it had been stored away… It was then that I knew that he had stolen it," Tsunade said.

It all made sense now. All of the pieces fit in together. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi exchanged glances. "We solved it!" Naruto whispered to them.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, again attempting to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Why are you crying?" he asked. "You're family is a symbol of hope and peace. What's wrong with that?"

She shuddered, but she didn't resist his grip as she had previously. "I-Its n-n-not that," Sakura said between hiccoughs, whipping her eyes on the back of her hand. "I-I'm very pr-proud of my family, don't get me wrong! I-It's just they w-were in several wars, and with p-pink hair they weren't exactly difficult to spot… And being rather well-known, most of the enemies were aware that they brought hope to u-us… so naturally they were targets." At this, she covered her face with her hands. "N-Not many of them s-survived," she said, crying into her hands.

Squad 7 (along with Tsunade, Shizune, Iruka and the Jonin leaders) exchanged looks of realization. "That will do," Kakashi said, standing up. "I think Sakura has had enough pressure put on her to last a life-time. We should be off." Sasuke and Naruto nodded and they too stood up. Tsunade nodded and they all departed the room.

On the way out, Sasuke and Naruto argued over whether Naruto owed Sasuke tomatoes or Sasuke owed Naruto ramen. Kakashi made the decision that they both lost so they both owed their promised items to each other.

That evening, Sasuke unwillingly treated Naruto and Hinata to ramen, and after a little persuasion, he got Sakura to join him for their double-date.

**So how did you like the second last chapter in the story (It was longer than usual, huh?)? Even though I told a lot of secrets, the story still doesn't really seem finished yet, does it? Well that's good; there's still another chapter to go: The epilogue! **

**I hope you like it thus far, and I know that you're all sick of me saying this, but REVIEW PLEASE! I want to know how you like it! Even if you've already reviewed for another chapter, review again!**

**If you have anything you particularly want me to consider adding into the last chapter, I'll take some suggestions too. Thanks for reading! Love ya! **


	14. Epilogue

**Yep, this chapter took a little while to update. Again, I wanted to take my time with it because it's the very last one (unless there's a sequel or something)… But never mind. I also want to take my time with this chapter so it's nice and lengthy! **

**SPOILER warning (by the way). At least, to a certain extent. I had to make a lot of it up because the real Naruto series isn't finished yet.**

**Here it is; the last sniff sniff chapter:**

**Chapter 14: Epilogue**

As fate takes its turn, nothing ever stays the same. In the end, it all comes down to a matter of trust and loyalty and the willingness to keep or to break the only bonds you have.

To leave a life of bliss and peace would sure take more than enough will-power; especially if the place in which you are going to is a place that one could consider being "their worst nightmare". Betrayal, mistrust … imagine the guilt one would feel. And after you are gone, would you regret your actions? Or did you have a purpose for leaving?

Yes, as you have probably already figured out (although I am talking around it rather than talking about it), I am making my way towards talking about when Sasuke betrayed the Leaf Village for Oroachimaru. Why? He needed power. To defeat his brother. Sasuke's goal in life _became _his life. So much, that he started to act like a killing tool, in which the blade was always pointing towards his brother and the handle towards the Leaf Village.

Each one of his team-mates had tried to stop him with their own method, but none prevailed. Sasuke already had his heart and mind set. To kill his brother. To avenge his clan.

When they were fifteen, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had all gone their different ways; Naruto was working under the wing of the perverted, legendary Jiraiya, Sakura under the wing of the healer-ninja and Hokage Tsunade, but Sasuke was still with the evil (and possibly the strongest of the three), Oroachimaru.

Intriguingly, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Oroachimaru were once team-mates way back when the three of them were in Konoha. They were known as the three legendary Sanin.

Days passed, and one day Sasuke considered himself to be at last strong enough to at last hunt down his brother. At this time, Oroachimaru was ready to use Sasuke as his new body. At the end of the battle, Sasuke was the only one standing.

Sasuke forms a new team and goes after his brother. Meanwhile, Oroachimaru is reborn into Kabuto's body.

I seriously don't want to get into detail about every single aspect, so I'm going to be short and sweet about this: Naruto kills Kabuto (and Oroachimaru ((who is inside him))) and Sasuke kills Itachi (just the way things should be!). Oh yes and one more thing: Sakura kills Karin (I just _had _to make that happen!).

It is here that fate takes another turn and life goes back to the way it should be. When you are ensnared in a place one could consider being "their worst nightmare", all it takes to be freed is to wake up to your world of bliss and peace.

Sakura arrived home from a day of difficult and intense training. She plopped down on an armchair in her living room, her pink hair matted. After her few seconds of comfort, she stood up and walked over to her phone.

_You have one new message._

Sakura sighed and pressed to play button to listen. _Hello, t-this is Hinata speaking. I thought you'd like to know that the Hokage is going t-to be paying you a visit before the ceremony. _

_-A formal visit! _said another voice in the background. Sakura rolled her eyes.

_Er… a formal visit, _said Hinata's voice. _I hope you get this message in time. See you there. Bye!_

Sakura chuckled to herself before she went upstairs to get ready.

_Knock, knock, knock! _

"They're here! Oh my gosh, you haven't even gotten ready yet! Wake up!" Sakura yelled, jabbing her husband in the small of his back. He had been on his stomach, sprawled across the couch.

"Ow," he said, rubbing the place in which she had poked. "Why bother getting ready? It's only Naruto."

Sakura folded her arms and tapped her foot. "This is Naruto's big day! He's been waiting for this all his life! I've told you this _so _many times- oh for goodness sakes, wake up!" Sakura yelled, finally snapping and pushing him off the couch.

_Thud._

"Hey! What was that for?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she made her way over to the door. "Go-upstairs-and-get-ready-NOW!" she burst out with her hand on the doorknob. "Oh, and can you ask the kids to come down too?"

"Whatever," he said, stomping up the stairs and rubbing his back.

Sakura threw open the door, planted a smile on her face and said, "Welcome!"

"He-hello!" Hinata said, returning her smile. Naruto was grinning into space.

"Are you excited?" Sakura asked.

He gave her a thumbs-up sign. "Believe it!" Sakura laughed. He would never change. "How's my Goddaughter?" Naruto said suddenly.

"Oh, Chiyo's doing well. She's a little prodigy, she is. But unfortunately, she's picked up a bit of their father's attitude," Sakura replied with a small sigh. "But I've learned to live with it." Now it was Naruto's turn to laugh.

"Has _he_ been treating you well?"

Sakura smiled, "Yeah, but he can be quite a grouch. How are yourkids doing?"

Hinata answered this time. "The eldest, you know the red haired one? She's got quite a temper. Reminds me a lot of her father, actually. The other one is rather quiet. He's already mastered the Byakugan too."

Sakura nodded approvingly. "That's excellent. And speaking of our families, where the heck is mine?! Sasuke, get down here! We can't keep them waiting!"

"Coming Sakura!" was his reply, and then, "Get moving Chiyo! Hey, stop biting! Come on!"

Sakura flashed Naruto and Hinata a false smile. "Uchiha's…," she muttered under her breath. "I still can't believe how competitive they are." Naruto and Hinata nodded and Sasuke appeared around the corner. A little girl with her teeth clamped around his arm was with him. But at the sight of Sakura, she immediately let go and wrapped her arms around her.

"Mommy! Daddy said that he was going to throw me out the window if I didn't get ready in thirty seconds!" she wailed, squeezing Sakura's middle tighter.

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "You didn't actually…" But her voice faltered.

Sasuke shrugged and smiled. "It works all the time," he said, but this earned him a smack in the back of the head. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry! Honestly!"

Naruto was laughing, Hinata was staring at them with wide eyes, and Sakura was shaking her head with closed eyes. Seeing this as an open opportunity, Chiyo smirked at Sasuke and spat her tongue out at him. "Sakura, did you see that? The little devil-," but Sakura put a hand over his mouth.

"I don't really want to hear it," she said, then facing Naruto and Hinata again. "Sorry about that. We should get going now, shouldn't we?"

After exchanging nervous glances, Naruto and Hinata led the way towards the Hokage Tower. After picking up their kids from Kiba's house, they continued (this time with a little more peace because the kids were playing). "So what are we going to do _after _the ceremony?" Sasuke asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Maybe you could treat us all to ramen?" Naruto offered. "You still owe me a few bowls, you know."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And you still owe me tomatoes." Their little discussion continued as Sakura and Hinata started talking about their children, husbands and what to do with them.

What seemed like moments later, they bumped into Kakashi. "Hey sensei!" Naruto said. Although Kakashi was no longer his teacher (heck, Naruto _was _a teacher), he still treated him with respect.

"Yo," Kakashi said, closing his book and smiling at them. Hinata decided to give the old team a little respect and backed off to watch over the children. "How's everything going?" he asked. They all nodded and smiled.

"Well this brings back memories," Sasuke said, looking at them all.

"It's just like old times," Naruto said. It was followed by an awkward pause. Then Sakura and Naruto both burst into tears.

"I wish we could still do missions together," Sakura said in between sobs. "But now that Naruto's Hokage, things won't ever be the same again."

"Hey, speaking of missions, remember that one awhile back?" Naruto asked. "The one with the farmers, the pink hair and everything?" The other three nodded (Sakura had ended up figuring out what they had been up to). "That was sure fun, huh? The last fun thing we ever did before we were separated." He cast a meaningful look at Sasuke who nodded again.

"Well, we solved that one nicely, huh?" Kakashi said, nodding in the direction of Hinata and the children. "Chiyo's definitely proof that Tsunade had been right back then."

"Indeed," Sasuke said, also looking at his daughter, her pink hair glowing in the sunlight. "She looks a lot like you, Sakura."

Sakura frowned. "Yeah, but she _acts _like _you_!"

"Man," Naruto said, folding his arms. "How do you survive?"

"Barely," Sakura answered with finality, although she shot Sasuke a small smile. He returned it. They went to the Hokage Tower, and for dinner they ate ramen and tomatoes.

**OPERATION 5: SUCCESS- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!**

**Well, I'm finished! I hope you liked the story. Would any of you like to see any BONUS CHAPTERS (like maybe what **_**did **_**happen in the restaurant at the end of chapter 13 or something like that)? If you have any ideas for something like that, I'd like to hear it! **

**Oh yes, please, PLEASE, **_**PLEASE**_** REVIEW! My goal is to reach one hundred reviews before this story is ancient history!**

**I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!**

**Till next time, **

**wolf08.**


	15. THE FIRST BONUS!

**I'm back with my FIRST BONUS CHAPTER! Man do I feel proud of myself! If you've been reading this story for awhile, you'll notice the slower update… sorry about that. I don't really have a writing-schedule now that the main part of the plot is over. Plus, school's started! WAH! **

**But don't worry: in the mean time I've updated "Konoha Adventures" (it seems like forever since the last one…), and I've written a one-shot called "Hugging Lessons". My buddy ninja99k is up to chapter 18 in "After Death" (it's complete) and she's also written a one-shot. **

**I hope you're prepared for this next chapter! I'm only doing it because of all of the reviews telling me to! (Thanks sooo much for them by the way!) **

**Before you read on, you should know: This chapter takes place at the end of chapter 13. Enjoy! (I'm going to make this chapter long!)**

**BONUS CHAPTER 1: Capture the Flag**

"-and then-," _SLURRP! _"-I kicked down the door, and-," _SLURRP! _"-before he was ready for it-," _SLURRP! _"-I nailed him with my resengan right in the-,"

"Be quiet, Naruto," Sasuke groaned, putting his hands over his ears. "I'm trying to sleep!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And since _when _did people sleep in restaurants?!"

Sasuke shrugged. "Since I decided they do," he answered simply, resting his head in his arms. Sakura raised her fist to give Sasuke a painful wake-up call, but Naruto butted in.

"Sakura, please don't get us kicked out until I finish telling Hinata about the mission!" he cried, slightly shocked that Sakura would react so harshly with her beloved Uchiha. Sakura frowned and unwillingly obeyed. "As I was saying, then this other guy nailed Sasuke, so I didn't have very much time to think. I then realized that I had no choice but to-,"

"You know what? I think I'd rather sleep than listen to Naruto too!" Sakura interrupted, and she too put her head in her arms.

Naruto sighed. "Gee. I can't believe you guys! What next? Is Hinata going to fall asleep too?!"

"N-no! O-of course I won't!" she said suddenly, her eyes widening.

"I know, I know. I was only kidding," Naruto said reassuringly.

Sakura sighed. This was certainly one of the more boring dates she had ever been on. Come to think of it, _had _she even _been _on a date before?

"Ok then, where did I leave off? Oh yes-," Naruto started, but was interrupted yet again by a monstrously loud snore. It was coming from the direction of the Uchiha prodigy.

"THAT'S IT! I'm LEAVING!" Naruto hollered, standing up abruptly and stomping out of the restaurant without back-wards glance.

"W-wait for me, Naruto!" Hinata said, also leaving.

Sakura smiled. It was just her and Sas-

_SNORE!_

Um… or not.

"So are you going to pay for all of those bowls or not?" asked a voice from the other side of the counter.

"Er…," was Sakura's lame reply as she turned to face the chef. "No not me. But he will when he wakes up," she said, pointing at Sasuke who was still sound asleep. It was then that she decided that it would be best to leave while she still could.

Some date that turned out to be.

* * *

The following morning, squad 7 met at the bridge for their sensei's instructions. "Is it a mission?" Naruto asked excitedly, punching his fist in the air.

"No, we just got back from one yesterday," Kakashi said, rolling his eye. "Today we'll be training."

"What kind of training?" Sakura asked. "Taijutsu?"

"Chakra control?" Sasuke added.

"Beating the crap out of a tree?" Naruto offered.

"Who would be stupid enough to beat the crap out of a tree?" Sakura asked slowly, giving Naruto a side-ways glance. "What would you gain by it?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno, but let's put it this way: It'll be one less tree for an enemy to hide behind! Ha ha!" he exclaimed.

"Um… no. We won't be doing any of those things," Kakashi said, trying his hardest to keep a straight face. "No, today we'll be doing something different. _Very _different. Today we'll be playing a game."

"Game?" Sakura repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"What a waste of time," Sasuke muttered.

"I actually _isn't _a waste of time, Sasuke," Kakashi said, waving a finger in Sasuke's face. "This will actually be a benefit to your physical abilities. We're going to play a game called Capture the Flag."

"Oh yeah! I played that in the Academy! Man, is it ever fun!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly.

"_In the Academy?_" Sasuke repeated with a frown. "We've already _graduated_ from the Academy! Why the heck would we play one of those games again? They aren't enough of a challenge!" Kakashi shook his head with a sly smile.

"Uh… what _is _'Capture the Flag'?" Naruto asked suddenly with one of his usual confused expressions planted on his face.

"Well," Kakashi replied, "I was going to be explaining that anyways. After all, I had to change the rules a bit so it wouldn't be _too _easy to win." The others were giving him their undivided attention. "Alright, we will be playing two-verses-two. Each person will attach a flag to their belt, as I had done in the bell-exercise a while ago. Your objective is to steal you opponent's flags; the first team to have both taken will lose and will be punished in some way or another. If you have your flag stolen, you will automatically be disqualified and will be forced to leave their team-mate to fend for themselves. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said quickly. "How hard are we allowed to fight?"

Kakashi's smile broadened. "You can use any means necessary."

"So what are the teams? How about: Me and Sakura against you guys?" Naruto suggested.

"That's a dumb idea Naruto," Sasuke said rolling his eyes. "Kakashi and I would smoke you. I think _me _and Sakura would be a better combination."

"No way! Sakura was destined to be with me!"

"As if! The teams would be unfair that way!"

"Are you calling me weak, Sasuke?!"

"Maybe I am! I actually _want _a challenge, you know!"

Neither of the two idiotic boys realized that as they were preoccupied with their bickering, Sakura and Kakashi had formed a team of their own. "Alright, that settles it," Kakashi said. "Me and Sakura against you two."

"WHAT?!" Naruto hollered. "_Totally _unfair! I demand that you reconsider! With Sasuke on my team, we're bound to lose! No way!"

"That's funny," Sasuke said with his trade-mark glare. "I should be saying that about you."

Before Naruto had a chance to raise his fist, Kakashi butted in. "Calm down, calm down. Sakura and I will have yellow flags. You two can have red flags. Here," he said, tossing them the flags. Grumbling, the two boys tied their flags to their belt loops. Kakashi had previously done the same, and Sakura (who didn't have belt loops) had attached hers to her shuriken pouch.

Sakura hadn't spoken in awhile. Of course she hadn't protested against Kakashi's offer for them to be a team, but on the inside she realized that she was being pushed aside from Sasuke and Naruto. _Again. _To top it off, Kakashi had probably paired her up with him knowing that she was the weakest of the four.

"Alright go!" Kakashi shouted, and as quick as a flash, the four of them split up and went in different directions.

* * *

"Ok Sasuke, I'll handle Kakashi-sensei. You can just-,"

"No Naruto. I'm going to battle Kakashi. I already _told _you that I wanted a challenge."

"Hey! That was pretty disrespectful on Sakura's behalf!"

"What? You don't want to waste your energy on her either!"

* * *

Sakura and Kakashi were listening in on Naruto and Sasuke's conversation from a tree above. Sakura looked crest-fallen, but Kakashi put it aside. "As expected, Sakura, they're going to attack me first. I'll try to keep them both occupied, but in the meantime, you can try to snatch their flags. Got it?"

"S-sure thing sensei," Sakura answered with a small smile, holding back tears. She tried her hardest to prove to her team-mates that she was able to keep up with them… and this is what she gets in return?!

"Let's go then!" Kakashi and Sakura sprang down from the tree, facing the other two members of squad 7.

"Well, well. You want us to fight you head-on, huh?" Sasuke asked with a smile. "That sounds good."

"BELIEVE IT!" Naruto said, making a good-guy pose.

"Watch yourself, Sakura. Protect your flag. I'll fight them first," Kakashi muttered over his shoulder before he ran towards the others.

"Yes, sensei…," Sakura replied quietly, her head hanging.

Before Naruto or Sasuke realized what was happening, Kakashi disappeared and reappeared behind him. Kakashi reached towards their flags… but Sasuke was too fast.

Sasuke flipped backwards onto his hands, aiming a kick at Kakashi's arm in the process, but Kakashi managed to dodge it. Then Naruto aimed a punch at Kakashi, who ducked in turn. Sakura stood in the back-ground; Sasuke and Naruto not even sparing her a glance.

"Remember Naruto," Sasuke said quietly and urgently. "We'll only win if we fight as a team. I'll distract him." Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but Sasuke had already jumped into action.

Sasuke threw a fistful of shuriken at Kakashi who jumped aside. Sasuke then started aiming a series of kicks and punches in Kakashi's direction, but all of them were blocked. He tried various methods (accept for Fire Ball Jutsu; he didn't want Kakashi to go underground again…), but none prevailed.

In the meantime, Naruto was formulating a plan. If his timing was precise, he just might be able to snare the flag right out from under him without anyone noticing. So without further delay, Naruto abandoned his stationary position and dove forwards, just as Sasuke aimed a kick for Kakashi's gut.

All went in slow-motion.

Naruto reached forwards, his fingers centimetres away from the flag…

Sasuke's foot was making its decent…

Kakashi, meanwhile, was reaching for Naruto's flag…

BAM!

"OW!" Naruto cried, jumping back, supporting his hand (which was starting to bruise). "What was that for, Sasuke?!"

Sasuke too jumped back. "You came at him too early. I didn't even know you were there."

"I wouldn't worry about Naruto," Kakashi said, making the others turn to him. "I have his flag." And indeed, between two of his fingers was a red flag. Sasuke was about to yell, but then Naruto caught his attention.

"Not so fast, sensei," Naruto said with a smile. "_You_ may have _my _flag, but _I _have _your_ flag!"

"What?" Kakashi said while spinning around, and between his _own _two fingers, Naruto was waving a yellow flag. "Wow, you guys _have_ improved. That was fast. I guess we're out. That leaves…"

Sakura squeaked. This means…

It was all up to her. Sasuke verses Sakura. No acceptations.

It was like one of those old western fights; they were facing each other at a safe distance and were ready to make a move at any moment. Sasuke was severely angry at having to fight such a weak opponent. How on earth would he ever improve?! But Sakura's mind was going crazy. Out of all people in the world, why did she have to fight Sasuke? It was nice that she would finally have his full attention… but still…

Suddenly and soundlessly, Sasuke sprinted forwards, ready to strike. Sakura let out a small squeak and put up a defensive stance. She waited for him to reappear somewhere near, but instead she only felt a hot, stinging pain in her arm. She lowered it immediately and was shocked to see a kunai embedded in it.

That was enough to make Sakura snap.

_HOW DARE HE?! THAT'S IT! IT'S TIME FOR REVENGE!_

"Sasuke! What do you think you're doing?!" Naruto cried, standing.

Sasuke's eyes were slightly wide and he skidded to a halt. "I-I dunno! I thought she was going to dodge it! Not stand there!" he said worriedly.

Before he was ready for it, he felt a small gust of wind pass behind him, and something tripped him causing him to land flat on his back. Sasuke scrambled to his feet to stare at the source of the wind, who was now standing there, twirling a red flag between her fingers.

"Oh Sasuke, you should know better than to let your guard down while facing a _tough _opponent!" she said, grinning. Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi all had dropped jaws.

As a punishment, Sasuke and Naruto had to clean toilets. Sakura, on the other hand, spent the day laughing her head off at the two idiots.

**There you have it! The end of the first bonus chapter! As you can see, it doesn't really follow the main plot of the story like the other chapters do… but oh well! What do you want to see in the next bonus? Action? Fluff? (the next chapter probably won't be up for awhile though because of school… but it will come!) **

**Just to let you know: My goal is still 100 reviews before this story is ancient history! 100 is still pretty far away, but I'm aiming for it! (I am such a Rock Lee sometimes!). Please review! Tell me what you think!**

**-I love you guys! It's your encouragement that keeps me going! **

**-wolf08**


	16. THE SECOND BONUS

BONUS CHAPTER 2: The Uchiha Way (Part 1)

**BONUS CHAPTER 2: The Uchiha Way (Part 1)**

**(the "pre-epilogue")**

**It's been awhile since my last update for this story... So I would suggest reading back a little bit to refresh your memory (or else this chapter might get a bit confusing!!)**

**Recap from the Epilogue:**

_When they were fifteen, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had all gone their different ways; Naruto was working under the wing of the perverted, legendary Jiraiya, Sakura under the wing of the healer-ninja and Hokage Tsunade, but Sasuke was still with the evil (and possibly the strongest of the three), Orochimaru. _

_Intriguingly, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were once team-mates way back when the three of them were in Konoha. They were known as the three legendary Sanin._

_Time passed, and one day Sasuke considered himself to be at last strong enough to free his bottled-up vengeance. At this time, Orochimaru was ready to use Sasuke as his new body. At the end of the battle, Sasuke was the only one standing._

_Sasuke forms a new team and goes after his brother. Meanwhile, Orochimaru is reborn into Kabuto's body._

_Straight-forwardly and to the point: Naruto kills Kabuto (and Orochimaru ((who is inside him))) and Sasuke kills Itachi. Oh yes, one more thing: Sakura kills Karin (Sasuke's bratty new team-mate)._

_It is here that fate takes another turn and life goes back to the way it should be. When you are ensnared in a place one could consider being "their worst nightmare", all it takes to be freed is to wake up to your world of bliss and peace._

**End of recap. Back to the pre-epilogue:**

* * *

"So, where are we headed?" asked a firm, husky voice. Its owner was walking down a dirt path, intertwined with the trees and brush of a forest. It was the crack of dawn, sun shining through the treetops in thick, smoky beams, and shadow casting over the places that the sun could not reach. Two sole figures were walking down the path with mild strides, for they had no where to be, and yet, they did not want to waste any more time.

"I'm not sure," answered the second figure, his deep voice solemn, but with a trace of dishonesty.

"You're lying," said the first. "We're going to Konoha, aren't we?"

"…I don't know, Juugo."

The man named Juugo stopped dead in his tracks. "Listen, I know that you've already chosen our destination! Please do fill me in on your plans, or else you've just lost yourself your one and only companion." He crossed his arms when the other man turned back to square him up.

"Look, I don't need anymore conflicts-," the second started, but Juugo interrupted.

"You told me that you needed me, and I stayed by your side out of my own free will! I deserve my share of information!" he snapped.

The other's eyes widened, but he still managed to whisper, "There is no information to be shared _or_ sought. I don't know what I want. I don't know what to do with myself. I don't know where I'm going. You said it yourself that you are only with me out of your own free will, and if you feel uncomfortable that I don't know where we're going, you can just leave." The second figure turned on the ball of his foot and continued down the path.

Juugo stared at his retreating figure for a few long moments before he finally reached his senses. "Sasuke! Sasuke, wait!" he called, chasing after the figure. "I'm sorry! You know I am. Why would I leave you anyways? I'd just end up being in the same fix you're in." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Wait, if you don't know where you're going, then why are we walking through here? Why don't we stop at a village and relax?"

Sasuke smirked at this. "You know that relaxing isn't in my nature," he said quietly. "I always want to have a mission. I always have to have a goal to achieve."

"Like killing the other two Uchiha survivors?" Juugo asked mockingly. "Well, you're the only Uchiha left now, so unless you want to kill yourself, I think you're going to have to find something else to do with your life."

Sasuke chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure that I'll find something to do eventually. I mean, there are still so many people who I hate out there, that I'm bound to find _someone_ to get revenge on," he said with a shrug.

Juugo let out a low growl. "Will you get that revenge-crap out of your head? Honestly, you can't actually _enjoy _getting revenge on people! Man, you're even sounding like my former self- a killing-machine!" When Sasuke didn't answer him, he continued. "Come on, you've got to have _some_ sort of back-up plan! _Everyone _does! Like honestly, at the back of each of our heads, we've all got a secret wish."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "What are you playing at?" he asked slowly.

"Whether we realize it or not, we all have hidden desires that will truly bring us happiness. Perhaps it was a childhood dream, maybe it's some sort of emotion or possession that you've never had before!"

"What's yours then?" Sasuke asked quizzically.

"Er… well since I was a kid, I've always wanted to work at a toy-store. As soon as I stabilize myself in a village, that's exactly what I'm going to do as well. I mean, look at Suigetsu! He and Kisame are now at an aquarium in the Village Hidden in the Mist!"

"Was that their _dream_?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly. "They wanted to work at an aquarium?!"

"Actually, they aren't working at it… they're part of the main display. It's great for tourism." He paused. "But I'm sure that they're getting something more out of that. I don't know. I guess that they just enjoy the positive attention- you know, not being feared." He gave Sasuke a sideways glance. "So, did you ever have any dreams?"

Sasuke sighed. "All I've ever wanted was to have my family with me. I wanted to grow up and work at the Uchiha Police Detachment with my father." He closed his eyes and wished for this discussion to end.

"I don't see what's wrong with that," Juugo said seriously.

"_Well obviously there's something wrong_!" Sasuke shot back. "My family is _dead. Dead!_ And the Uchiha Police Force can't run without them!"

"I still don't see the problem."

It was Sasuke's turn to growl. "Are you an idiot?" he asked, giving Juugo a death-glare.

"No," he replied. "As of what you told me, you want a family and you want to be a police. You can still have both."

"What do you-?"

"I interpreted it this way: You want be the new beginning of the Uchiha Police Force, and the Uchiha Clan. Am I right?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but found that it was much too dry. "N-no… that's not what…," but he was unable to continue. Could this be the answer? Is this the missing piece to fill in the gap? And the more he thought, the more the idea made sense. Nothing could replace the disasters in the past… But maybe he had it all wrong. Maybe those disasters had happened for a reason- for him to appreciate his future _more_…

"I hate you, Juugo," Sasuke breathed, turning away. Juugo looked at him with confusion. "You're making me _think_! It's horrible!"

Juugo smiled. "So I'm right, am I not?" Sasuke shrugged. Taking it for a yes, he continued, "Then we're going to Konoha?" He shrugged again, but followed the path all the way there.

* * *

Once in the village, they managed to sneak passed the front-entrance guards, but they realized that if someone recognized Sasuke, the word would be spread like a wildfire. "What do I do now?" Sasuke muttered, hiding behind a building.

"I don't know about _you_," Juugo said with a grin, "but I know that _I'm _going to go look around."

"You're just going to leave me here?!" Sasuke asked furiously.

Juugo raised his eyebrows. "Hey, I thought you lived here before. You should know your way around. And there's no point in hiding—someone will find you sooner or later. Well, good luck! I'm going to look for a job," he said with a wave and leaving.

Sasuke couldn't believe his stupidity. _What_ was he doing here?! He was now an S-Class criminal, who most of Konoha probably wanted dead, and the only person in the whole village (besides Juugo) who didn't want to kill him was probably Naruto. Even if he did ask everyone for forgiveness, who would actually _give_ it to him?! Would he even be allowed to stay in the village? Would he be locked up in prison? Sasuke sighed. There was only one way to find out.

* * *

Naruto had a dilemma. He had just been eating at his favourite ramen bar, he had gotten side-tracked, absent-mindedly ordered seventeen bowls, ate them all, and now he couldn't afford to pay the chef. "Boy, you are going to pay for those bowls if you don't want to get your sorry butt banished from this stand for the rest of your life. Oh, and not to mention, you'll be fined."

"What?!" Naruto yelled, standing. "Fined?! That's pretty harsh, old man! I didn't do anything wrong! I just hadn't realized how many bowls I'd ordered! That's all! I swear! Here, I can pay you for five bowls _and _I'll wash your dishes. How does that sound?" he pleaded, getting down on his knees.

"Sorry Naruto. It's either all or nothing. It looks like I'll just have to-,"

_SMACK!_ A hand slammed a fistful of cash down on the counter. "I've got the other twelve bowls covered."

Naruto's eyes lit up. _My guardian angel…? _was the first thought that crossed his mind, but when he turned to face his saviour, his knees buckled and he crippled to the floor. _What's going on?? _But he was unable to determine the answer for he was now unconscious.

* * *

When Naruto awoke, his surroundings were much more dank and gloomy than the lighted restaurant. His back was against a hard, stone wall and the ground beneath him was concrete. He rolled his stiff neck, but then he sensed a presence- right in front of him! He quickly drew a kunai-knife, but the impostor deflected it with a sword and it went flying in the other direction. "I wouldn't bother, idiot," said the voice of his guardian angel.

"Oh, it's you!" Naruto said suddenly, squinting forwards to get a better look at the angel. It was dressed in white, black and purple. "What are you here for, oh great holy one? Are you here to tell me my future or to give me some advise? I'm all ears, my pal!" Naruto said, flattening his arms onto the ground in a deep bow.

"Er… What the heck are you talking about, loser?"

"I was just-… wait, that voice! You _aren't_ my guardian angel! Only one person ever calls me a loser like that! It must be-," and it was then that Naruto's eyes came into focus. "-Sasuke! What are you doing here?!" Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, but Naruto had already stood up and started running around in circles. "Wow, who would have guessed that you'd have come back on your own? This is a dream come true!"

"Calm down," Sasuke said, also standing and folding his arms. "The whole village doesn't need to know I'm here."

Naruto suddenly froze. "You're right, they can't," he said quickly. "Your face is posted on 'wanted' signs all over town, and people are bound to recognize you… but never mind that! I want to know what made you want to come back so badly!"

Sasuke tilted his head to the side. _Wanted signs…? I'm toast! _"I don't know why I came back. I managed to get my revenge, so I decided that this was the only place that I had left to go."

"Ha ha!" Naruto burst out. "So you finally admit that you're wrong now, huh? I never thought you'd be smart enough to figure that out!" but this only earned Naruto a bonk on the head. "So are you intending to stay here or are you too afraid to face all of the people you've betrayed?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Well, I'm going to have to face them all sooner or later… So I want to get it all over with fast."

"Great thinking!" Naruto said, pumping his fist into the air. "We'll start with the Hokage! Ha, will she ever be angry to see you! I bet she'll beat you up!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the arm and started dragging him down the street. _I should have chosen to live in a cave or something,_ Sasuke thought with a sigh as Naruto dragged him to his doom. _It would probably be much safer than here._

They ran into a couple of familiar figures, such as Shikamaru and Kiba. "Hey guys, look who's back!" Naruto exclaimed.

Shock crossed both of their faces. And they stood there, petrified, until Kiba finally said, "Listen here, buddy, countless amounts of people have risked their lives to bring you back. You know what? Leaf Village citizen or not, I don't even _want _you back anymore."

"How can you even trust him?" Shikamaru scathed. "You should get him out of here before he betrays us again!"

Naruto shook his head. "No, this time he's staying. Right Sasuke?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, but again, Naruto started dragging him away before he could get the words out of his mouth. They also passed Ino and a group of girls. Ino's first reaction was, "Oh my gosh, look at what that guy's wearing! His outfit looks even worse than Naruto's! Ha! Looks like Naruto's finally met someone who has worse fashion-sense… hold on a second, that's SASUKE!" she screamed. Her group of friends all gasped, followed by squealing and fainting. But Sasuke didn't care about that. The only thought running through his head was, _My fashion-sense is NOT worse than Naruto's!_

**Sorry about the random ending!! I'll post the next one some time...**

**Anyways, today's my BIRTHDAY!! I'm really happy! (especially because last night in my soccer game, we defeated the undefeated team 4-1!! YYYAAAAAYYY!! It was a cool late-night game at a lit stadium... Anyways... YEAH! Please leave a review and I'll be extremely happy!!  
**

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